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EXCLUSIVELY FOR AGENTS. 



gent's Manual 




• THE AUTHOR OF " THE AMERICAN MANUAL OF LIFE ASSURANCE, AND 
PRIZE ESSAYS " PRIMTTTTE PTETY EEYIYED," "THE GREAT 
INQUIRY ANSWERED," "DON'T SWEAR," AND 
" THE HOUR FOR ACTION." 



Copyright secured in America and JZngland. 






»«$> 



,F - 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by 

HENRY C. FISH, 

In the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court for the District of 
New Jersey. 



31hff- 






e n t ' s Jll a n u a 1 



CONTENTS. 



i. 

PAGE. 

THE SIGNIFICATION OF TEEMS 13 

TI- 
THE LITEKATUEE OP LIFE ASSUEANOE 15 



THE HISTOEY OF LIFE ASSUEANOE 19 

I"V. 
THE NAMES, OFFICEES, ETC., OF EXISTING CO'S- . 25 

THE SCIENCE OF LIFE ASSUEANOE 31 

"VTL 

THE PEACTICE ELUCIDATED 37 



VI. 

"vii. 

PAGE. 

THE MOEAL DIGNITY OP LIPE OPEKATIONS 43 

•VIII. 

THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT 47 

1. He appreciates his work 47 

2. He is moved by high impulses 49 

3. His heart is enlisted 51 

4. He is active and industrious 62 

5. He is courageous and determined 54 

6. He has tact and discrimination 56 

7. He speaks the truth 58 

8. He has a good reputation » 61 

9. He is agreeable in manners • 62 

10. He is devoted to his calling. 64 

11, His interest is in one Company 65 

IX. 
BEGINNING THE BUSINESS 67 

1, Personal canvass at the outset G7 

2, A policy on his own life 68 

3, Pamiliarlty with Life Assurance ' 69 

4, Posted as to his own Company 70 

5, His Medical Examiner 70 



Vll. 



PAGE, 



6. Acquaintances registered and visited. 71 

7. Making new acquaintances 72 

8. Getting names for reference • • 73 

9. Treatment of other Agents • — 74 



MANAGING THE BUSINESS 15 

1. Method in everything 75 

2. Eelations to the Home Office 76 

3. Satisfied with terms 7T 

4. Prompt delivery of Policies 78 

5. Eenewals and rejections 78 

6. Helping the Hesitating 79 

7. Filling out applications 79 

7. Resign if doing nothing 80 

ENLARGING THE BUSINESS 81 

1. "Widening one's own field 81 

2. Striking for large Policies 82 

8. Depending on " Machinery." 8S 

4. Editorial notices S^ 

5. The use of Reports, Office-books, &c. 84 

6. The influence of Ministers &> 



vm. 

PAGE- 

7. Sunday-School Teachers 86- 

8. Turning to advantage deaths of assured 86 

9. Same of the deaths of unassured 87 

10. New attention to canvassing 87 

11. The motive of patronage 88 

12. Never without blank applications . • • 88" 

13. Eecommending new Agents 89- 

14. Operating through "bosses" and employees- •• 89* 

15. Visiting the " intimate friend," 90 

16. Convincing the Wives 90" 

17. Looking after the newly married 91 

18. Making each assured a helper 92' 

19. Applying to those already assured 92: 

AEGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE 9$ 

1. Scripture and duty 94 

2. Immediate provision 95- 

3. It is found here 95- 

4. The only method known 96 

5. Uncertainty of life • 96- 

6. Posibility of sickness 96* 

7. Family affection 97 

8. A social obligation 97 



IX.. 

PAGE. 



9. Its benificence 98 

10. A means of self-protection 98 

11. Variety of uses 99 

12. A good investment 100 

13. Increases credit 1°* 

14. Personal Advantages 101 

15. Joy to the Household 102 

16. A dictate of prudence 102 

17. Pinal appeal 103 



HOW TO MEET OBJECTIONS 115 

1. Indebtedness 105 

2. Well off 106 

3. Religious scruples 106 

4. Pears as to safety 10T 

5. Expensiveness 108 

6. Making money 108 

7. Assuring one's self 109 

8. The Savings Bank 109 

9. Using funds in business HO 

10. No family ties HI 

11. Inability to continue HI 

12. Some other time m 



X. 

PAGTE.. 

CONVENIENT TABLES IIS 

1. Interest and Discount I* 3 

2. Eate of Mortality H* 

3. Carlisle Expectation 116 

4. Comparative Mortality HT 

OEIGIN AND YEAELY EECOED OF COMPANIES.. US 

ZX1"V~I. 
EEPOETS 01 BUSINESS TOE 1866 130 




"Among the honorable workers in the civilized world, to whom 
Hie public as well as the assured will die indebted, we give faithful 
■and successful Life Assurance Agents a high place." 

Elizub Weight. 



" A Life Assurance Agent should be the very highest style of 
■a man." — Page 45. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



1VERY science has its corresponding 
art. Life Assurance is a Science; but 
it is also an Art. The theory is one 
thing ; the practice is quite another. And the 
latter is not a matter of less importance than the 
former. 



As a consequence, active and intelligent 
Agents are essential to the prosperity of a Life 
Company. It is not enough to establish agen- 
cies. Those filling them are to be instructed 



and stimulated into full-grown and efficient 
men. 

Every successful and rising Assurance office 
has devoted a considerable part of its attention 
to the matter of agencies. Where this has been 
deemed of trifling moment, little has been ac- 
complished. 

A Life Agency may fairly be called a Pro- 
fession. And hence an agent should have, 
besides a general education, a sort of profes- 
sional education, — which, by common consent 
is demanded in the practice of law, medicine 
and the like. Other things being equal, the 
more familiar one is with his profession, the more 
thoroughly furnished is he for his work. 

The public is fast becoming enlightened on 
the subject of Life Assurance. Inquisitive minds 



PREFACE. 9 

now push their investigations beyond the adver- 
tisements, circulars, &c, of the Life Companies, 
and ask for other information. Hence, a higher 
grade of intelligence and capacity on the part of 
agents is requisite ; — just as the general educa- 
tion of the masses necessitates a more thorough 
education of the teachers. They must broaden 
the horizon of their knowledge, and be prepared 
to speak intelligently of what they recom- 
mend. In a word, they must show that they 
are masters of their profession. For how can 
a novice instruct"? And how can an agent 
bring to bear a controlling influence upon a 
man who is competent to be his teacher in the 
very things belonging to his occupation? 

A work like that here submitted was there- 
fore needed. Its aim is one and simple ; — 
namely, to help Life Assurance Agents. It puts 



into their hands just the facts they want to pos- 
sess; gives them something to think about 
furnishes a multitude of hints and suggestions ; 
magnifies their work and places it on a higher 
level ; raises their courage ; kindles enthusiasm ; 
and imparts force, readiness, and effectiveness 
in their high and beneficent calling. 





THE SIGNIFICATION OF TERMS. 




CTUARY. — In laic, this word was 
originally used to designate a clerk, or 
registrar, in courts of civil jurisdic- 
tion. Webster defines an actuary 
as lc the manager of a joint-stock 
company, particularly of an insurance 
company ; — in America, chiefly ap- 
(? plied to the manager of a life insurance com- 
pany." A better definition is, one en- 
gaged in what are termed contingent, or 
accidental calculations and estimates. 

Annuity — Is an annual payment ; or, a 
yearly income charged on the person or com- 



pany granting it. 



12 SIGNIFICATION OF TERMS. 

Assets — Constitute the entire property of all kinds be- 
longing to a person or an association. 

Assurance, or Insurance — Is a contract for the payment 
of a sum of money on occasion of a certain event, as loss, 
or death. In England, and, to an increasing extent, in 
America, assurance is used in life operations, and insur- 
ance in those of lire. The distinction, as made by Mr. 
Babbage, is this : Assurance is a contract dependent on 
the duration of life, which must either wholly happen or 
wholly fail. Insurance is a contract relating to any other 
uncertain event, which may pirtly happen or partly fail. 
Quite generally, however, the words interchange. Life 
Assurance may be defined to be a plan by which any 
sum of money may be secured at death, whenever that 
may take place, or be. received at any given age of the 
life assured if the life continue. 

Bonus — Is an extra dividend to the shareholders of a com* 
pany, oat of accumulated profits. 

Dividend — Is the share of profits, or surplus, belonging to 
each partner or proprietor. 

Loading — Is a sum added to a previous amount to make 
its sufficiency doubly sure 

Policy — Is a ticket, warrant, or written contract for money 
in a public fund or society. 

Premium — Is the sum paid for insurance or indemnity. By 



SIGNIFICATION OF TERMS. 13 

Single Premium is meant a sum of money paid down, 
and in consideration of which, without any further pay- 
ment, the sum assured will be guaranteed to be paid at 
any given age, or at the death of the assurer. By Annual 
Premium is meant a sum of money to be paid yearly until 
the death of the party, or for a limited number of years, 
as may be agreed upon. 

Reserve. — This is the difference between the present value 
of the sum assured and the present value of the net 
future premiums. It is that sum for which the Policy to 
which it belongs could be transferred to and reassured 
by another company. 

Reversion — Is the sum payable at death, or at any future 
period. It may be secured by the payment of a single 
or of an annual premium. 

Reversionary Addition. — That sum which is added to a 
Policy for the Cash Dividend at the single payment rate. 
The amount so added is payable with the original policy. 

Scrip — Is a certificate of stock, or of a share of joint prop- 
erty. 

Void — Means empty, null, having no binding force. All 
Life Assurance Companies have certain conditions, re- 
strictions, or rules, the violation of which hazards or 
destroys the policy. These restrictions relate to travel 
or residence in other countries ; the payment of pre- 



H SIGNIFICATION OF TERMS. 

miums when due, &c. If these regulations are disregarded, 
or if the party assured dies by the hands of justice, or in 
an attempt to violate the law of any country where he 
may reside or happen to be, or in consequence of a duel, 
or by reason of intemperance from the use of intoxicat- 
ing liquors, or by his own hand ; or if the annual pre- 
mium be not paid in the manner prescribed, the policy is 
in most of these cases, either in whole or in part, for- 
feited. 




LITERATURE OF LIFE AS- 
SURANCE. 




OR the most part those who have writ- 
ten upon the subject of Life Assurance r 
have done so with the purpose either 
of developing its laws and foundation 
principles, cr cf exhibiting its calcula- 
tions. Hence their writings are chiefly 
abstract and scientific. English author- 
ship is the principal field of the Literature 
of Life Asssurancc. America has yet to- 
oduce its first decidedly great work on this 
^ subject. The publications enumerated, present 
a pretty complete catalogue of all works of any 
importance on the Assurance cf human life that 
have ever been written. 



l6 LITERATURF OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 

Griffith Davies on Annuities. 

F. Bailey on Annuities. 

Richard Price on Annuities (2 vols.) 

duetelet on the Theory of Probabilities. 

An Essay on Probabilities, by A. De Morgan. 

Sang's Essay on Life Assurance. 

Sang's Valuation of Life Contingencies. 

Jones on Annuities and Reversionary Payments (2 vols.) 

The Sixth and Twelfth Reports of the Registrar-General 

of England. 
Pocock's Chronological List of Books on the Doctrine of 

Chances. 
The Insurance Guide and Hand-book, 2d ed. ; useful. 
Charles Babbage's Tables of Logarithms. 
Joshua Milne on Annuities. 
E. Baylis on the Arithmetic of Annuities. 
Robertson on Life Assurance. 
William Morgan on Life Assurance. 
Alfred Burt on Life Assurance. 
Edward Hully on Life Assurance. 
Hoyle on Life Assurance. 
Park on Life Assurance. 
Neison on Vital Statistics. 
Ansell on Vital Statistics. 
Ellison on Life Insurance. 
Dowdeswell on Life Insurance. 
Millar on Life Insurance. 
E. J. Farren on Life Insurance. 
A. Scratchley on Life Assurance Societies. 



LITERATURE OF LIFE ASSURANCE. \J 

Thackeray on Life Assurance. 

James (J. H.) on Life Assurance. 

The Handbook of Life Assurance, by c. B. Norton. 

The Vade Mecum, by J. Baxter Langley, M. R. S. C. 

The American Manual of Life Assurance, by Henry c. Fish, 

D. D., Newark, N. J. 

The American Life Assurance Magazine (Quarterly), by G. 

E. Currie, 153 Broadway (seven bound volumes). 

The Insurance Monitor, by T. Jones, Jr., 14&1G Wailst., 

N, Y (monthly, and back numbers). 

The Wall Street Underwriter, by Grierson & Ecciesine, 18 

Wall st. (Life and Fire), monthly. 
Insurance Reports (New York and Mass.), bound volumes. 
Journal Of the Actuaries; monthly, London. 

Francis Corbeaux on Laws of Vitality, &c. 

Law of Fire and Life Insurance, Gro. D. B. Beaumont. 

Assurance Premiums, by Wm. Orchard. 

Life Assurance Manual, by P. A. Eagle. 

Farr's New Life Tables. Quarto, 1864. 

An Appeal for Life Insurance, by G. E. Currie, N. Y. 

Annals, Anecdotes, etc., of Life Assurance, by J. Francis 

The Law Of Life Assurance, by Charles John Bunyan. 

Fifteen Years' Experience in a Mutual Life Insurance 

Company, by S. Homans, New York. 

What is Life Assurance? by Jenkin Jones. 

The Medical Selection of Lives, by Wm. Brinton. 

Medical Estimate of Life, by S. H. Ward. 

Hutton's Mathematical Tables. 

George Cardwell : a Life Insurance Tale, by N. D. Morgan. 



l8 LITERATURE OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 

Marshall's Tables of Value of Annuities. 

Hodgson's Observations on Duration of Life. 

Why Should I Insure my Life ? by II. it. Sharman. 

Practical Life Tables, by Alex. McKean. 

Price's Observations on Reversionary Payments. 

Commission Profits of Life Assurance, by s. Brown. 

Treatise on Life Annuities, by F. Blayney. 

U ew and General Notation of Life Contingencies, by Hardy. 

Peter Gray's Tables of Life Contingencies. 

W. E. Hillman's Tables of Life Policies. 

David Jones on Value of Annuities. 

3. H. Todd's Life Insurance Investigation Tables. 

W. T. Thompson's Actuarial Tables. 

William Wood's Conversion Tables. 

Popular Tables, by Charles M. Willich. 

.Medical Examinations for Life Insurance, by J. Adams 

Allen. Chicago, 111. 



THE HISTORY AND PRESENT POSI- 
TION OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 






OUBT hangs over the actual origin of 
the idea and the practice of insurance. 
In the year 1435 a Spanish writer issued 
a challenge to the world, claiming for 
Barcelona the honor of being the birth- 
place of this practice. The claim was 
met by the Italians, who quoted the 
rates of insurance on shipments from Lon- 
don to Pisa and Bruges as early as 1400. It 
was also ascertained by a chronicle of King 
Ferdinand that the contract of reciprocal insur- 
ance was known in Portugal as early as 1375. 
Many other writers allude to the practice of in- 
demnifying ship-owners and merchants against losses by the 
.elements, or by enemies, at a much earlier date. 




20 HISTORY AND PRESENT POSITION OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 

The invention of the principle of insurance has generally 
been accorded to the Romans, from the fact that the writ- 
ings of Livy, Suetonius, Cicero, and Sallust mention stipu- 
lations of indemnity to contractors during the second Punic 
War, and a like surety granted by Claudius for delivery of 
grain during a time of great scarcity, as also the security 
claimed by Cicero for the carriage and safe delivery of the 
spoils of war gained by the victories in Silesia. The first 
English statute appears in the time of Elizabeth, 1601, but 
it designates the system as of ee tyme out of mynde, and a 
usage amongste merchants." The question of priority must 
therefore be accorded to marine insurance, and the inven- 
tion to the Italians. 

LIFE Assurance, also, dates far back in the annals of the 
past. It is common for writers on this subject to assign its 
origin to the beginning of the eighteenth century ; making 
its existence hitherto to have been about one hundred and 
fifty years. But it has certainly existed twice that length 
of time. Indeed, we find traces of the theory of probabili- 
ties, (which underlies life assurance,) as far back as the time 
of Pliny, and even Plato, preceding the Christian era. It- 
is also certain that some four hundred years after Christ, a 
table was actually in existence by which annuities could be 
valued. 

But that Life Assurance was absolutely practiced as early 




HISTORY AND PRESENT POSITION OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 21 

as above stated, i. e. in the sixteenth century, is put beyond 
question by the contents of a volume in the French lan- 
guage called the Guidon (guide, standard), whose author is 
unknown, but which must have been written some three 
hundred years since. In this ancient document the writer 
speaks of " insurance made by some nations upon the life 
of men, in case of their decease upon a voyage, to pay cer- 
tain sums to their heirs or creditors." Hence it appears 
that in his day ''some nations " practiced life assurance. 
How much earlier we do not know. 

From an old English work on Usury, printed in 1584, 
we learn that a particular feature of life assurance — endow- 
ments for children — supposed to be a very modern idea, was 
known and substantially practiced then (nearly three hun- 
dred years ago),. The writer speaks of money being in- 
vested in a cf Companie," which company agrees fc that 
whosoever lendeth such a summe of money, and hath a childe 
of one yeerc, shall have for his childe, if the same childe 
doo live till he be full fifteene years of age, 500 li. (pounds) 
of money." 

We also find historical traces of the practice of assuring 
lives in Germany, of an equally early date. 

The first scheme of importance, however, and which may 
be regarded as the foundation of the modern system of life 
contingencies, was the system of Tontines, invented 



2 2 HISTORY AND PRESENT POSITION OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 

by Lorenzo Tontie, or Tontine, a Neapolitan, im 

The first public office for assuring lives which we are able 
to identify, originated with a clergyman of Middletown,Lan- 
cashire, England, named William Assheton, D. D., in the 
year 1698. His object was the benefit of the widows of 
clergymen and others, and for settling jointures* and annui- 
ties. It went into operation under the name of fC The 
Mercer's Company," in London. In 1700 another society 
was instituted called the "Society of Insurance of Widows 
and Orphans." 

In the year 1 706, the " Amicable Society of London " was 
founded; but it made this fundamental error, that the rate s 
of premium were uniform for all ages assured ; nor was any 
fixed amount guaranteed in case of death. Hence very 
little was done. In 1721 the " Royal Exehange," and 
" London Assurance " Companies were formed. But it was 
not until 1780 that the business of Life Assurance may be 
said to have fairly begun. In that year the " Equitable: 
Society " (which eighteen years before had obtained a char- 
ter with the greatest difficulty, and had so far met with 
little success, so great was the ignorance prevailing upon the 
whole subject) adopted the Northampton tables as the basis- 
of its calculations ; its actuary or manager being William* 
Morgan, who was aided by the advice of his uncle, Dr„ 



HISTORY AND PRESENT POSITION OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 2 J 

Richard Price, a celebrated writer upon the principles of 
Life Assurance. 

Life Assurance was introduced into this country before 
the war of the Revolution. It was effected by a few Epis- 
copalian clergymen who formed a society in 1769, called 
"The Protestant Episcopal Association for the Benefit of 
Widows and Children of Clergymen of the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania." The first public Assurance Company 
was the Pennsylvania, established in 1812, still flourishing. 
The Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company seems 
to have been the next formed, in the year 1818. The 
New York Life Insurance and Trust Company was chart- 
ered in 1830, and the New England Mutual Life Insurance- 
Company of Boston in 1 844. But little attention, however, 
was paid to the subject in this country prior to 1843, at 
which time the Mutual Life of New York and several other 
companies went into successful operation. 

At the present time there are in Great Britain nearly two 
hundred such companies j and the amount there assured 
upon life is estimated at £225,000,000. 

In the United States there are about seventy Life Com- 
panies, receiving an annual income of nearly $50,000,000, 
But little short of four hundred thousand lives arc now as- 
sured, covering risks amounting to about $1,000,000,000. 
These are striking proofs of the popularity of Life Assur- 



24 HISTORY AND PRESENT POSITION OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 

ance. During each year, more than six millions of dol- 
lars are paid by the Life Companies in the United States 
lo the families or representatives of the assured ; mainly 
to widows and orphans. 

The number of policies now issued, yearly, by all the 
Companies in the United States, is not far from 120,000. 
And the business is constantly and rapidly increasing. 

A few words may be added on the stability of Life As- 
surance. It is too much to say that Life Companies have 
never failed. In England, up to the time of "Richard 
Price (1780), assurance of life had been little better than 
a gambling operation. And much later, has there been 
great unfairness in business of this description ; which, hap- 
pily, is not true at present. A very few Companies doing 
life business in this country, have by mismanagement gone 
down ; but the cause has been the union of other business 
with that of life. Not a single Company confining itself to its 
legitimate work has failed, nor is the thing conceivable, for 
there is scarcely room for contingencies. The experience of 
the commercial world can point to no such permanency as 
is seen in Life Companies, nor does any class of institutions 
compare with them for uniformity, safety, and reliability. 



LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANIES. 



E have spared no pains to be able to 
present here a full and complete list 
of the several Life offices in the 
United States. Such a list, it is be- 
lieved, is found in no other publica- 
tion. For reference, and correspondence, 
it will be of great convenience, besides 
le satisfaction that one feels in being 
posted." We arrange them in alphabet- 
:al order. 
Of the officers, it will be understood that the 
one first named is President^ and the next, Sec- 
retary, 
z 




26 LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANIES. 

JEtn\ . . Hartford, Conn. 

E. A. Bulkeley, T. O. Enders. 

American Mutual New Haven, Conn. 

Benj. Silliman, Benj. Noyes... 

American Life and Trust. . .Philadelphia. 

A. Whilidin, J. S. Wilson. 

American Popular New York city. 

V. M. Rice, J. Pierpont, Jr.. 

Atlantic Mutual Albany, N. Y. 

R. H. Pruyn, L. B. Smith.. 

Baltimore Baltimore, Md. 

J. I. Donaldson.. 

Berkshire , . . Pittsfield, Mass. 

T. F. Plunket, B. Checkering. 

British General. New York city. 

Branch office.. 

Brooklyn Brooklyn, N. Y. 

C. W. Bouck, R. H. Harding.. 

Chicago Mutual Chicago, 111. 

J. B. Turner, C. B. Holmes.. 

Charter Oak Hartford, Conn. 

J. C. Walkley, S. H. White.. 

Connecticut General Hartford, Conn. 

E. W. Parsons, T. W. Russell. 

Connecticut Mutual Hartford, Conn. 

Guy R. Phelps, W. S. Olmsted. 

Continental of N. Y. . . . . . .New York city. 

Justus Lawrence, J. P. Rogers. 

Continental of Hartford . . Hartford, Conn. 

J. S. Rice, S. E. Elmore.. 



LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANIES. 1J 

Covenant Mutual St. Louis, Mo. 

G. B. Allen. 

Economical Mutual Providence, R. I. 

S. S. Bucklin, W. Y. Potter. 

Empire Mutual Chicago. 111. 

Equitable New York city. 

William C. Alexander, James W. Alexander.. 

Excelsior Mutual . / New York city. 

Germania New York city. 

H. Wesendonck, F. Schwendler. 

Girard Annuity & Trust . Philadelphia. 

T. Ridgway. 

Globe Mutual New York city. 

Pliny Freeman, H. C. Freeman, 

Great Southern & Western. New Orleans, La. 

Gen. Longstreet, 

Great Western New York city. 

R. Bage, E. Dwight Kendall.. 

Guardian New York city. 

W. H. Peckham, H. V. Gahagan. 

Hahnemann Cleveland, Ohio. 

H. M. Chapin, A. S. Mills. 

Home Brooklyn. 

W. S. Griffith, G. C. Ripley.. 

Hospital . Boston, Mass. 

Moses Hale, Sec.. 

John Hancock Boston, Mass. 

G. P. Sadger, G. B. Agar, 



28 LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANIES. 

Kentucky Mutual Cincinnati, Ohio. 

J. C. Beck, A. C. Dunlap. 

Knickerbocker New York city. 

E. Lyman, G. F. SnifFen. 

Life & Accident Hartford, Conn. 

^y. J. Vail, William S. Manning- 

Liverp'l & Lond. Globe F. & L. New York city, branch. 

A. C. Pell, Agent. 

Manhattan New York city. 

Henry Stokes, J. L. Halsey. 

Massachusetts Mutual. ....Springfield, Mass. 

Caleb Price, F. B. Bacon. 

Miners' Life & Trust Co . . . Pottsville, Pa. 

Jacob Huntzinger, Alfred Huntzinger- 

Mutual of N. Y New York city. 

F. S. Winston, Isaac Abbatt, John M. Stuart. 

Mutual of Wisconsin Milwaukee. 

S. S. Dagg. 

Mutual Benefit Newark, N. J. 

L, C. Grover, E. A. Strong. 

National of Vermont „...„„ Montpelier, Vt. 

J. Y. Dewey. 

National. . , New York city. 

E. A. Jones, J. O. Halsey. 

National Life & Health. . . .Kalamazoo, Mich. 

S. P. Sheldon, G. W. Snyder. 

New Hampshire Hand in Hand, Laconia, N. H. 

G. W. Stevens. 

New England Mutual Boston, Mass. 

B. F. Stevens, J. M. Gibbons. 



LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANIES. 20, 

New Jersey Mutual . Newark, N. J. 

J. P. Bradley, William M. Simpson. 

New York New York city. 

Morris Franklin, W. H. Beers. 

New York State Mutual. . . Syracuse, N. Y. 

John Peck, G. P. Gardner. 

New York Life & Trust. . . .New York city. 

David Thompson, P. R. Kearney. 

North America New York city. 

N. D. Morgan, J. W. Merrill. 

North-Western Mutual. . . . Chicago, 111. 

Merril Todd, C. B. Holmes. 

Ohio , . . Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Augustus Isham. 

Penn Mutual Philadelphia. 

James Traquair, H. S. Stephens. 

Pennsylvania Philadelphia. 

Charles Dutilh, Pres't. 

Philadelphia Fire & Life . . Philadelphia, Pa. 

R. P. King, F. Blackburn. 

Phcenix Mutual Hartford, Conn. 

E. Fessenden, J. F. Burns. 

Provident Life & Trust .... Philadelphia, Pa. 

S. R. Shipley, Pres't. 

Provident Life & Investment Chicago, 111. 

C. G. Hammond, C. Holland. 

Protection New York city. 

J. S. Homans, Jr. 

Royal F. & L .New York city, branch. 

A. B. McDonald, Agent. 



30 LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANIES. 

.Security Life & Annuity . . .New York city. 

R. L. Case, I. H. Allen. 

.Southern Memphis, Tenn. 

G. W. McCarn, J. B. Dodds. 

.State Mutual Worcester, Mass. 

Isaac Davis, C. Harris. 

St. ^ouis Mutual St. Louis, Mo. 

D. A. January, W. T. Selby 

"Travellers' (Life and Accident) . . . Hartford, Conn. 

J. G. Batterson, R. Dennis. 

Universal ^ ■ New York city. 

J. Wadsworth, J. H. Bewley. 

Union Mutual of Maine. . . .Augusta, Me. 

H. Crocker, W. H. Hollister 

United States . . . ; New York city. 

J. B. Collins, Jno. Eddie. 

Washington New York city. 

Cyrus Curtis, W. A. Brewer, Jr. 

'Western Cincinnati,, Ohio. 

Widows' & Orphans' Benefit. .New York city. 

Charles H. Raymond, H. B. Robinscoi. 

World Mutual New York city. 

George L. Willard, C. W. Plyer. 

4®=* It is proper to state that a few of the above Companies are doing no new 
business, but merely taking care of obligations already assumed. 



THE SCIENCE OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 



O M E grand foundation principle 
lies at the base of every science. This 
we know to be true of theology, medi- 
cine, jurisprudence, political economy 
and the like. 

Now, what is the fundamental prin- 
ciple of Life Assurance, as a Science ? 
It is this : — the Law of Average. 
\\j We will make this plain. 

By the word law (zslaw of nature, law of 
gravitation, and the like) is meant, the regular 
method by which certain effects follow certain 
conditions, or causes. When we have ascer- 
tained how, or in what manner, or in what relative pro- 




32 THE SCIENCE OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 

portion, certain effects follow certain causes, then we say 
we have found out the law regulating such and such 
things : as when observing men determined the laws regu- 
lating electricity, the tides, steam, trade, falling bodies, 
and the like. 

Now, is there a law regulating the rate of mortality, or 
the falling of human lives in the aggregate ? We should sup- 
pose so, beforehand, since nothing seems left to chance. 
Every thing appears to be governed, controlled, regulated : 
only sometimes the law, or rule, respecting the occurrence 
is too hidden to be detected. It is generally agreed that 
what we call chance is merely direction not understood. 

te All nature is but art unknown to thee, 
All chance direction which thou canst not see." 

Just how many and what kinds of accidents (as they are 
called) and crimes, even, will occur among a given popula- 
tion during a year, for instance, can be determined with 
certainty beforehand. Just how many letters will be mailed 
undirected (from haste or carelessness in correspondents) 
out of any large number of letters, can be known before- 
hand, on the ground that what has occurred will recur. 
Again, it is demonstrated that just such a relative number 
of white and black balls, in a given number of drawings, 
will be taken from an urn where they are mixed promiscu- 
ously. This has been found out by actual experiment. 



THE SCIENCE OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 33 

Or, throw into the air some thousand times a number of pen- 
nies, say fifteen hundred. It can be reckoned beforehand 
just how many ' f heads " and how many te tails," in the whole 
number of throwings, will be up or down. Nothing would 
be more uncertain than whether it would be " head " or 
f< tail" in one throwing of one penny; but the average in 
many throwings of many pennies can be got at exactly. 

We should expect, then, that there would be a law regu- 
lating the falling of human lives, so that we could average 
them, or get the proportion of them; — so many out of such 
a number falling in a given time. 

And this we find to be the case. The duration of any 
one life cannot, of course, be known; but that of a multi- 
tude of lives is easily ascertained. Or, to change the ex- 
pression, nothing is more uncertain than the duration of 
individual life : nothing is more certain than the average 
continuance of life. In the same age and same country the 
rate of mortality from pestilence, war, &c, &c, may vary ; 
but even these variations are doubtless governed by fixed 
laws ; and looking at all periods and all countries, the vari- 
ation does not exist. 

The facts proving these statements have been brought to 
light by the study of statistics. For upwards of 200 years, 
tables have been kept in different parts of the world, to a 
greater or less extent, showing the births and deaths of indi- 



34 THE SCIENCE OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 

viduals. These are generally called tables of mortality ; 
and upon these the duration of life has been calculated with_ 
almost unerring, accuracy. 

By these it is ascertained, for instance, that if we take: 
10,000 persons in the prime of life, 1,200 will die the first 
ten years; 1,500 the next ten; 1,700 the next ten; and so 
on till all have passed away. 10,000 persons at the age oF 
25 years will attain the age of 62 years on an average; at 
the age of 35, 65 years ; at the age of 45, 68 ; at the age- 
of 55, 71. The average age at death of all born, is about. 
33 years. Or we may say that any 1,000 persons in ordi- 
nary health at the age of 25 will yet live to average about 
372 vears each; at the age of 30, about 34^; and at the- 
age of 35, just 31 years each ; and so on. 

Now, calculations having reference to money values may 
clearly be made upon any circumstances sure to recur. Hav- 
ing, then, before us the expected life at any age, we have: 
only to charge each individual that sum which, in the num- 
ber of years he is expected to live, will just amount to the= 
sum for which he assures, and he pays what may be termed 
the actual cost of assurance. If he live longer than those- 
assured with him, he helps those who die early: if he dies- 
early, they help him. In this way a perfect average is se- 
cured, which, being based on accurate and sufficient life- 
tables, is just as reliable as the equilibrium of the planets- 



THE SCIENCE OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 35 

The deficient payments of those who die early are com- 
pensated for by the additional payments of those who live 
longer. Of course, to the actual cost of assurance, there 
must be added office and other expenses, use of capital, 
a surplusage for security, etc., and all these put together 
make up what are called the rates of assurance, rendering 
it safe to issue policies at these charges, whether for the 
whole term of life, or for a certain period, on the endow- 
ment plan. 

The following, from the pen of an unknown writer, is a 
pretty lucid statement of the theory and practice of Life 
Assurance : 

All Insurance is but the taking upon many the risk of one, 
so that if he loses what he insures they collectively shall 
make it good to him. If they be a thousand, his loss di- 
vided among so many hurts nobody ; while if it had fallen 
upon one only it would have ruined him. Say, for example, 
that one thousand persons, at the age of thirty, assure each 
other for life to the amount of $1,000 each, and that each 
pays for this protection a yearly premium of $23.60. The 
collective premium will make $23,600. The casualties the 
first year will be probably eight, so that instead of the soci- 
ety having to pay back the whole $23,600 which they have 
received, they would have to pay back but $8,000. This 



36 THE SCIENCE OF LIFE ASSURANCE. 

will leave, with accrued interest at four per cent., $16,544. 
on their hands to meet subsequent losses, and this fund with, 
future premiums, as fast as received, will be put out at in- 
terest. The next year sees the business renewed in favor 
of nine hundred and ninety-two survivors, of whom a like, 
number will die during the second year, say eight persons.. 
To the heirs of each of these again is paid $1,000, collect- 
ively $8,000. The third year sees nine hundred and eighty- 
four survivors whose premiums bring in $23,222. Once- 
more, an increased number of these, or nine, die during the 
third year, and $9,000 is paid to their representatives. The- 
fourth and each following year proceed in like manner until, 
about the sixty-fifth year they will in nearly every case all 
have died, and a thousand times $1,000 will have been paid, 
them; that is $1,000,000. 

To the individual, then, Life Assurance holds out pro- 
tection ; and to the capitalist, the profit of taking those 
chances of life and death which the individual must not run,, 
and can fairly pay to have lifted from his shoulders ; as is the 
case when one takes advantage of fire or marine insurance. 



THE PRACTICE ELUCIDATED. 



EDUCING to practice the theory as 
explained in the foregoing chapter,, 
there are a few points that may require- 
further elucidation. 

The working plans, of companies dif- 
fer. While all are based upon the same 
fundamental principles, they are organized 
upon different systems, and vary in the con- 
ditions adopted, and in the detail and appli- 
cation of benefits. Thus, there are joint- 
^ stock companies, strictly so called, in which a. 
capital is furnished as security to the assured, by 
individuals who receive all the profit or surplus 
premiums of the business, as a remuneration for the risk and 




3 8 THE PRACTICE ELUCIDATED. 

use of their capital. And the mixed, or part proprietary- 
company and part mutual, having also a joint-stock guar- 
antee capital, but allowing a portion of the profits, or all the 
profits, to policy-holders, after deducting legal interest upon, 
the guarantee capital. And the purely mutual companies,, 
in which all the surplus, or profits of the business, belongs, 
to the policy-holders in proportion to the premium they 
pay. There are also companies in which the payments of 
policy-holders are wholly in cash, and others where partial, 
payment is made in notes. 

The matter of pro/its, dividends, &c. y may also require 
some explanation. If there was but one invariable rate of 
mortality from which we could determine the exact number 
of assured persons who would die at each age; if the rate 
of interest never fluctuated, and it could be precisely deter- 
mined per policy what the expenses of management would- 
be, the rate of premium deduced therefrom would be, as; 
we have previously stated, the exact value of the sum as- 
sured. But as it is impossible to obtain an absolutely accu- 
rate rate of mortality, and also to prevent the admission of 
some bad lives, and as the interest of money is constantly 
varying, it is absolutely necessary, for the security of the 
assured, to be certain that the premiums charged are suffi- 
ciently high to cover the risks incurred. Hence, the rates 
are expected to be somewhat higher than will eventually 



THE PRACTICE ELUCIDATED. 3<^ 

prove to have been necessary. Here is an income or 
source of profit. 

To this must be added several other sources of revenue.. 
In calculating interest the rates are assumed at 3 per cent., 
in England, and in this country at 4 per cent. ; while a 
company, in fact, receives 6 or 7 per cent., often more. 
This is done by judicious investments, or loaning on good- 
terms. These investments, of course, are drawing in- 
terest, which interest is again reloaned, making an invest- 
ment at compound interest. These interests are an accumu- 
lation to the benefit of the company ; which, in a few years,, 
in a successful one, whose expenses are proportionate to their 
business, amounts to a large sum. Again, in order to cover 
expenses and still further to provide against all contingen- 
cies, the companies universally add to the rates obtained by- 
calculation from correct tables of mortality, a loading of 
from 20 to 40 per cent. This is usually found more than. 
is necessary, and forms another source of profit. Moreover,. 
the lives which are assured are much better than the aver- 
age of lives upon which the tables of mortality are based, 
the average expectancy being increased by the judicious 
selections made by the office ; this consequently results im 
a profit. A profit is also acquired by the lapse, or loss, of 
policies from non-payment, and by the purchase of policies, 



40 THE PRACTICE ELUCIDATED. 

as the company always reserve a sufficient amount to indem- 
infy them for the risk already incurred. 

In these several ways, and others incidental to the busi- 
ness, it happens that all companies managed with prudence, 
accumulate a larger amount of funds than is necessary to- 
provide for future losses. 

The adequacy of the premiums charged is tested by a 
" valuation " of the income and liabilities of the Society,, 
which the offices make at certain periods, and if it results 
that they have a surplus after putting by sufficient to meet 
every probable claim upon them, they then distribute their 
profits. All profits in purely stock companies are divided, 
among the stockholders ; while in mutual and mixed com- 
panies they are distributed among the life members in an. 
equitable proportion. In the distribution of surplus funds 
periods of three or five years have usually been preferred to* 
shorter ones ; because the rate of mortality is generally 
supposed to be more uniform among a large number of per- 
sons, and extending over a long period. Many companies; 
in England, for this reason, make their dividends only once 
in seven or ten years. In some companies, however, both, 
in England and America, the dividends are declared annu- 
ally. The funds returned to the assured are generally dis- 
posed of as each may prefer ; cither to reduce the annual 



THE PRACTICE ELUCIDATED. Al 

premium, or to the purchase of additional assurance without 
farther charge for premium (adding the dividend to the 
policy), or to abate the amount of future premiums, the sum 
assured remaining the same. 

A few words may be in place as to the lapse or surren- 
der of policies. It is sometimes complained by those wish- 
ing from any cause to withdraw from a company, that they 
do not get the full value of their policies. 

Professor De Morgan observes on this, " Among the 
sources from which the offices draw profit, are lapsed poli- 
cies. But what they receive by the lapse of the po- 
licy is not all profit ; but only that portion by which 
the premium for the whole life exceeds the premium 
for a temporary assurance. Every premium which is paid 
"by an assurer contains the consideration given for the chance 
of his dying in each and every subsequent year. If, then, 
lie remain a member of the office and stand the risk of death 
during a certain number of years, all such part of his pre- 
miums as was consumed for the risk of those years become 
due to the office and was taken by the office as compensa- 
tion for the risks, and cannot, therefore, be said to fall to 
them as profit upon the lapse of the policy. Two individ- 
uals, A and B, go to the office on the same day, and assure 
their lives for the same sum, A upon his whole life, and B 



42 THE PRACTICE ELUCIDATED. 

ibr seven years. A pays, say £10 of premium, and B £7. 
At the end of seven years A allows his policy to lapse just 
at the time when B's policy expires by its own construction. 
What does the office gain by the lapse ? Evidently, the tem- 
porary annuity of £3 by which the two premiums differ. 
"The £7 paid by A out of £10 is not more than sufficient 
to pay his share of the claims which arose during the years 
-which he continued in the office ; the remaining £3 was a 
reserve for future years, which becomes profit to the office 
on his declining to stand the risks of these years." 

This would seem to be sufficiently plain. The principle 
•of assurance is, that the claims of those who die early are 
paid by the contributions of those who livelong ; therefore, 
if the whole of the premiums were returned to parties sur- 
rendering their policies, it might become impossible for an 
•office to fulfill its engagements. 




THE MORAL DIGNITY OF LIFE 
OPERATIONS. 

jg^6> O view could be more incorrect than 
\{ that life transactions are simply like 
other insurance transactions. They are 
of a far higher and more sacred charac- 
ter. They differ in these important re- 
spects. 

Other kinds of insurance, for instance, 

pertain to property merely. A fire or 

marine insurance company deals simply with 

material objects — assumes risks upon houses, 

ships, merchandise. And then, again, its tran- 

tJ sactions are with one party. They begin and 

terminate with the insured. 




44 TH£ MORAL DIGNITY O? LIFE OPERATIONS. 

Not so with a Life Company. Here the operations 
touch human existence. They relate to its fall or continu- 
ance. That for which one will ci give all that he hath " is 
the matter bargained about. A man may speculate \t\ prop- 
erty, but how abhorrent the idea of speculating in human 
life ! A man may barter and banter where mere goods are 
concerned ; but what a degradation to bring life operations 
down to this low level ! A man may think lightly and 
speak flippantly of the destruction of barns and merchandise ; 
but of the end of earthly existence he is expected to enter- 
tain a degree of seriousness. 

Then, too, the Life office has to do with other parties 
than the assured. It is virtually acting for widows and or- 
phans. It assumes to be their almoner and protector. A 
husband and father entrusts to it what is expected to mature 
only at his death. If there be fraud or unfairness, it is at 
once against the dead and the living. The wrong takes 
place when the party originally dealt with cannot set up a 
defense for the innocents ; since he Is no more one among 
them. And those for whom he toiled,, and planned, and 
sacrificed, are now deprived at once of their just rights, and 
of the fruits of his efforts. Their sustenance is taken from 
before their mouths. The table is bare, where love, in anti- 
cipation, spread a bounteous repast. The guardians of the 
now defenseless ones have become their despoilers. How 



THE MORAL DIGNITY OF LIFE OPERATIONS. 45 

could there be a grosser wrong — a more aggravated wicked- 
ness ? 

Viewed in this light, how high the obligations which a 
Life office assumes ! How sacred its trusts ! And, conse- 
quently^ how honorable and how elevated should be its 
aims and operations ! 

Now, an agent is expected to be the exponent of this 
moral dignity which ought to invest transactions in life. 
He is the representative of these transactions. Men form 
their ideas, not only of his particular Company, but of Life 
Assurance itself, from him. Any act of an Agent which is 
not honorable^ has a direct tendency to dishonor himself 
and all his fellow-laborers. And not only this, it brings 
odium upon the whole institution. It poisons the system 
of Life Assurance, and works so much towards its ruin. 

For these reasons, a Life Agent ought to be the very 
highest style of a man. What a fire, or marine, or bank- 
ing or other agent may be, is nothing to him. He is to be 
much more than is expected of others. There is to be in 
him more of conscience ; more of genuine goodness; more 
of the powers of honest persuasion; more of the capacity 
to appreciate and to use those motives which appeal to the 
higher and finer sensibilities. 

The work of a Life agent is noble. It ranks among 
the most beneficent labors of men. To do good is man's 



46 THE MORAL DIGNITY OF LIFE OPERATIONS. 

highest privilege and the best title to a true nobility. And 
Life Assurunce opens a boundless field for doing good, and 
for the elevation and welfare of the world. For this reason 
it is truly lamentable that such operations should ever be in 
the hands of unscrupulous and unprincipled men. 

And we earnestly maintain that Life Assurance will never 
realize its best capabilities,until it is practically elevated to- 
the high moral position here assigned to it. 

In the following chapter, the aim has been to analyze and 
set in order, and to inculcate the principal elements which> 
constitute a permanently effective agency. 




THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 



fiK ft 



PPRECIATES 



j^is y 



ORK. 




NE can generally form a pretty accurate 
opinion of a Life Company by an ac- 
quaintance with its agents. The good 
agent understands and appreciates this 

Y^ijys- ^ actj an< ^ a ^ so t ^ at men W ^ judge of the 
whole system of Life Assurance by him. 

Accepting an appointment, therefore, he 
feels his responsibility. He has high ideas 
of his work. He looks upon it as benefiting 
the party assured, by giving to him quiet of mind; 
by inducing habits of economy, sobriety, and fore- 
thought ; by setting before him an honorable 



48 THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 

motive to action and enterprise, and by leading him to the 
discharge of a sacred duty. 

He considers that his efforts are helping to rid the com- 
munity of poverty and its frequent attendants — vice and 
crime. And also that he is strengthening the sinews of so- 
cial life by every policy he obtains. And what is more, 
that he is befriending the poor and needy; wiping sorrow 
from eyes dimmed with tears, and deserving the tribute of 
gratitude awarded to one of old : " When the ear heard 
me then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me it gave 
witness to me ; because I delivered the poor that cried, and 
the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The 
blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, 
and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." 

An eminent minister once said : '' Were I to leave the 
ministry, I should take an agency for Life Assurance ; for I 
consider that it, next to direct religious efforts, is doing- 
most to benefit society." And a very high authority — the 
Hon. Elizur. Wright, late Insurance Commissioner of Mas- 
sachusetts — says : " Among the honorable workers in the 
civilized world, to whom the public as well as the assured 
will die indebted, we give faithful and successful Life 
Assurance Agents a high place; and no field that we know 
of is more inviting to an ambition that would devote the 






THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 49 

best of talent to the benefit of society at large, and individ- 
uals in particular." 

To have such a conception of the value and dignity of an 
agent's vocation, is an important point gained. In such a 
case, where the motives of worldly policy are pleasantly 
mingled with higher moral considerations, and all these 
blend together in the beautiful philosophy which constitutes' 
the chief charm of Life Assurance, the business of an agency 
will be both agreeable and successful. But without this- 
appreciation of his work, how can an agent expect to suc- 
ceed ? How can he have faith in it, and impart to others- 
confidence and interest in it ? If he does not appreciatehs 
benefits, how can he forcibly place them before others ? 

As a first thing, then, let an agent endeavor to rise up to 
a just estimate of the value and the moral grandeur of his 
undertaking. (See also, on this, page 43, etc.) 



2. We is Moved by Migh Impulses. 

A WRITER observes that some agents walk about 
like apprentices to an undertaker, proclaiming in 
sepulchral tones the uncertainty of life, &c, and they 
never succeed ; while some of the jolliest fellows in exist- 
ence are very successful agents, because they carry sound 



50 THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 

and well-balanced minds, with a love of their fellow man, 
and can appreciate and feel the motives that will sway those 
with whom they come in contact. 

We have seen men acting as agents, who seemed to feel 
that they were doing a mean sort of work, and needed to 
beg pardon of all creation for being about such work — for 
being alive, we had almost said, — whereas, they may 
well hold up their heads, and go out to their task animated 
by the very highest motives of philanthropy and moral 
obligation. 

One should look upon his business in the light already 
presented, as a great public benefit, and feel that it does not 
detract from his being a promoter of the general good of 
mankind because he gets a living by his labor. He who 
does the state a service while at the same time earning an 
honest livelihood, is deserving of double honor, first because 
he promotes the public weal, and next because he secures 
his dependents against want. There is a volume of good 
sense in the following advice : 

"Be confident. Your business is honorable. Ask no 
favors of other men as to the usefulness and excellence of 
your vocation. The merchant does good and merits re- 
spect; but you do more good than he. The lawyer and 
physician are worthy ; not less so you. Trust your voca- 
tion. You are no beggar. When you ofter assurance you 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 5' 

give all who receive it full value received. Ten tnousand 
widows and orphans bless you the world over. You do* 
more good in a month than most men do in a year." 



3. Wis Weart is E 



EART IS pNLISTED. 



O 



F a celebrated living actress, whose powers are worthy 
of a better cause, it has been written — 



" We listening weep ; but every burning drop 
Flows from thy heart, ere falling from our eyes." 

To make others feel, we must firs: ourselves feci. Deep' 
conviction is contagious. It wins its way. It speaks in the- 
eye, the looks, the tone. Other things being equal, a 
man's force in impressing others is in the ratio of his own 
heart-force. Says Goethe : 

"Persuasion, friend, comes not by toil or art; 

Hard study never made the matter clearer ; 

' Tis the live fountain in the speakers heart 

Sends forth the streams that melt the ravished hearer. 

Would you, then, touch the heart, the only method known 

My worthy friend, is first to have one of your own." 

AD this applies well to a Life agent. If he loves his 
work ; if he puts his heart under it, look out for results I 
To do much, he must be full of it. A Secretary once 



52 THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 

wrote to a newly-appointed agent : " Your very boots must 
creak the name of your Company !" It reminded us of the 
advice of Dr. J. W. Alexander to a ministering brother, as 
to having his heart enlisted in sermonizing : " Live for your 
sermon. Live in your sermon. Get some starling to cry — 
c Sermon ! sermon !' " 

No class of men ever propagated a great interest, and 
carried it through to victory, who did not first wed it, and 
wholly cast in their lot with it for better or for worse. 

All effective agents have "Life Assurance on the brain. ,y 
They spring to their task with an elastic and buoyant spirit. 
Write it down as a rule, that no man ever does much who- 
is not enthusiastic in his profession or business — who does- 
not think his enterprise, whatever it be, the greatest, or at: 
least one of the greatest, and most important in the world. 
Only then are his energies untiring. Only then does the 
fire in his own soul kindle upon the souls of others. 



4. We is Active and Industrious.. 

WHEN a lady once asked Turner, the celebrated. 
English painter, what his secret was, he replied : 
" I have no secret, madam, but hard work/' This is a se- 
cret that many have never learned, and from this cause 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 53 

they don't succeed. Labor is the genius that changes the 
world from ugliness to beauty, and the greatest curse to 
•one of the greatest blessing. 

It is eminently true in Life Assurance, that ff the hand 
of the diligent maketh rich:" while "idleness clotheth a 
man in rags." 

There is no way of getting on well in a Life agency, 
short of absolutely hard work, and the devotion of time 
to it. The agent must be a man not only to s strike the 
iron while it is hot,' but as Cromwell said, f to make the 
iron hot by striking. ' " Pea el pen" — little by little — is 
a motto to Le hung up in the agents' office. Or this : 
<e Only work wins." 

Luther was once asked how he found time to translate 
the Bible. His reply was, cl I did a little every day." And 
Beethoven, when fifty-two years of age, wrote to his friend 
Wegeler, " My maxim has always been nulla dies sine linea 
— (no day without a line), and if I allow my muse to slum- 
ber, it is only that she may awake with fresh vigor." 

A Life agent accepting such sentiments is on the road to 
success. 



54 THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 



5. He is Courageous and D 



ETER- 
MINED. 



ONE should not accept a Life-agency until he has 
made up his mind to succeed. It has its difficulties 
and discouragements. An agent once complained that 
he had been tried, provoked, teased, exasperated, and dis- 
gusted, times without number. Nobody wanted to see 
him, nobody wanted to be social or even civil when his 
business was introduced. One must be prepared, there- 
fore, to meet difficulties and not quail before them The 
day he accepts apppointment let him dismiss all doubt, and 
.screw his courage up to the "sticking point." 

" The wise and active conquer difficulties 
By daring to attempt them ; sloth and folly 
Shiver and sink at sights of toil and hazard, 
And make the impossibility they fear" 

The old Crusaders used to say, "Faint heart never won 
fair lady." Another adage in everybody's mouth declares 
that " Fortune favors the brave." 

That famous educator, Miss Mary Lyon, of South Had- 
ley, Mass., used to say to her pupils, " If you commence 
teaching and do not succeed, teach till you do succeed." 

If the agent gets sorely disappointed in cases where he 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 55 

-was confident, let him nevertheless remember the lines in 
the Lcves of the Angels : 

" Hope's precious pearl in sorrow's cup 

Unmelted at the bottom lay, 
To shine again when, all drunk up, 

The bitterness should pass away." 

A newly-appointed agent once said, when finding it 
liard to get a start, and to make both ends meet in living, 
" I will share a dry cracker with my wife sooner than 
give it up!" We scarcely need add that he had a per- 
manent success. 

Here one may well write over his office-door General 

■Grant's famous dispatch, ' f I will fight it on this line," etc. 

•or the couplet of Sir Walter Scott : 

"Come one, come all — this rock shall fly 
From its firm base as soon as I." 

Never, in a solitary case, have we known an agent tD 

•complain of a lack of business, if he patiently went at it 

with full faith that 

"In the bright vocabulary of youth 
There's no such word as fail !" 



$6 THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 



6. We has Tact and Discrimination. 

THE great thing in assuring men is to use that partic- 
ular argument at the right moment which will carry 
conviction. Success is often gained by a happy way of 
" putting things." Hence the need of tact — a nice per- 
ception — a discreet movement. There never yet was a 
good assurance agent who was not possessed of a suggestive 
mind. Of some it may be said, . 

" — His zeal 

None seconded, as out of season judged, 
Or singular, or rash." 

The following brief suggestions, chiefly from a practical 
living writer, are in place : 

Be discreet. Not only work, but work wisely. Don't 
bewilder your candidate with " four or five different plans." 
Fix upon one plan, which you think best adapted to the 
circumstances of the man. Let other plans rest unless 
they are called for. Don't allude to other and rival com- 
panies unnecessarily. If questions concerning them are 
asked, answer them truthfully and fully. 

Be explicit. When you talk, talk at something and hit 
it. Have an object before you. Remarks should have a 
purpose. Think and study till you acquire suitable words 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 57 

to utter. General remarks may convince a man, but they 
will not secure him. It requires but small talent to win 
assent. It requires tact to change assent to action. Then 
be explicit, and avoid tedious talk and obscure explana- 
tions- 
Be ready — ready with boldness where boldness will win ; 
ready with modesty where modesty wins. If the party is 
not social when your subject is introduced, be ready with a 
word on some other subject where his better feelings will 
be enlisted. The tide once moving, you can direct it by 
adroit management to any subject you please. Now launch 
the life-boat ! While in this delightful frame of mind put 
in the telling words. Let them be courteous, but urgent; 
not general, but specific ; not what others ought to do, but 
what he ought to do and will do. Get out the policy. 
Open it. Ask his full name. Prepare to write it down. 
If he goes on, all is gained. But don't give him, a chance 
to refuse. Don't hear a refusal, if he gives it ; but grace- 
fully retreat for a subsequent approach. 



58 THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 

7. We Speaks thf Truth. 

fi First in the glories of thy front 

Let the crown-jewel Truth be found. " 

REQUESTING of an officer in a Life company to* 
name a subject for an article to agents, he said r 
" Write on this : How to get along without lying.'" And 
he added, " Agents will lie ! — they tell anything that suits- 
their purpose — and this gives a bad name to the whole 
business. " Certainly this is far from being true of all- 
agents, but it is true of too many. An able writer, com- 
menting upon the fact that among the New York State 
Companies there were, in 1865, 730 policies reported as- 
terminated by death, and the almost incredible number of 
5,728 terminated by lapsing or forfeiture, attributes the fact 
chiefly to the false representations of agents He says : 
Cf There are probably no reputable institutions in the world 
that practice and allow to be practiced so many disreputable 
arts as Life Assurance companies. Were banks and manu- 
facturing companies to employ the same devices, resorting to 
studied and palpable tricks in order to ensnare their patrons, 
and stockholders, the loud complaints would speedily swell 
into popular reprobation. Policies lapse because policy- 
holders are deceived when assuring Large dividends are: 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 59 

promised annually, when they are neither large, nor paid 
annually. There is a wide divergence between the promises 
and performances of Life companies, which is officially cen- 
sured by Elizur Wright as highly deceptive. Another 
writer, in the Insurance Monitor, insists that it has come 
to such a pass that a Life Agent is hardly expected to be a 
strictly honest and upright man. He says ' f so universal is 
the habit of deception, that comparatively few agents will 
admit it. They prefer skill in lying and its immediate 
fruits, to the slower and more permanent success of hon- 
esty. There is a bewitchery about craft and cunning, an 
idea of smartness that seduces many persons. And so 
we often hear it said of such and such an one that he is the 
smoothest and most plausible liar in the business, and 
makes piles of money. And this is spoken as though it 
were a compliment. We recently had a conversation with 
an agent of a prominent and most excellent company in 
New York. c You pay your dividends the fifth year/ we 
remarked. ' No, we pay them annually/ he replied. 
'You mean that you declare them annually.' Yes, we 
declare them annually, and redeem them two years there- 
after, that is, the third year.' f Arn't you mistaken? Your 
circular says no dividend is declared till more than one 
premium has been paid (which is at least two premiums) 
and then that none are redeemed till two years thereafter ; 



6o 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 



that makes about four years, and in that time the fifth pre- 
mium is paid/ 'Well/ said the agent, 'you are right. 
I know 'tis so. But we never tell a man so ; we let him 
find it out. He'll find it out soon enough ;' and he laughed 
heartily as though it were smart to thus deceive and cheat. 
We denounce such a procedure. We denounce the agent,, 
and every other agent that is like him c Such men are en- 
titled to quarters in the Tombs. We brand them as un- 
principled knaves that do not deserve to associate with. 
honorable men." 

We hope the above remarks are too sweeping, but they 
certainly are not too severe upon those to whom they 
apply. 

It is high time that Life Agents set their faces against 

this practice of deception. They may rest assured that 

here, as everywhere, "honesty is the best policy." 

"A man of sense will artifice disdain, 

As men of wealth may venture to go plain." 

In the end misrepresentations are pretty sure to be visited i 

upon the offender's own head; so that 

"They that act unjustly 
Are the worst rebels to themselves." 

We say with another : " Abhor deception and fraud. 

Don't trifle with men's better feelings when they are moved 

to beneficent action. When the grave has arrested their 

labors, and they lie down to their long sleep, let no dream 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 6 1 

disturb your repose because you have defrauded the living 
and deceived the dead." 

Benjamin Franklin is often quoted as authority for the 
value of Life Assurance, and very properly so. But Frank- 
lin said, "Let honesty be as the breath of thy soul." 



O 



We has a Good Reputation. 

F an agent's veracity men ought not only to be able 

to affirm, 

" What he says 

You may believe, and pawn your soul upon it ;" 

but they ought to be able to compliment him throughout 
as a thoroughly honest and true man. 

The remark has been made by somebody, concerning 
writers, that " it makes all the difference in the world who 
is behind the pen." If we know that a writer or speaker 
is tricky, scheming, hypocritical^ or corrupt, we refuse to 
be influenced by him. On the other hand, it is remark- 
able what weight the words of a man of character have. 

All this is equally true in business success. And hence 
the reputation of an agent in the community should be 
unequivocally good. It will be found a ehief element of 
strength. Let him aim to be an honor to the Company he 
represents remembering that it will be judged of by him, 



62 THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 

and that he should do nothing to derogate from jts good 
name, or from the reputation of Life Assurance in general. 
Let him be strictly temperate, and in all respects so bear 
himself that even his opponents will be compelled to say„ 

" I've scanned the actions of his daily life 

With all the industrious malice of a foe, 

And nothing meets mine eyes but deeds of honor." 



9. We is Agreeable in Man- 
ners. 

TREATING everybody in a respectful way, is one 
of the surest means of getting on in the world. It 
costs but little, and is worth a great deal. A buffoon, 

"Fit for the mountains and the barbarous caves, 
Where manners ne'er were preached," 

is out of place in a Life Agency. Coarseness, vulgarity, 
looseness of conversation, repulsive manners — all this is dis- 
graceful, and a serious drawback upon success. 

So honorable and beneficent is the vocation of a Life- 
Agent, that we instinctively demand in him a correspondence 
to the portraiture, 

ie Tho' modest, on his unembarrassed brow 

Nature had written 'Gentleman.' " 
We demand that he shall be 

" — For courtesy, behavior, language, 
And every fair demeanor, an example." 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 63 

The pen-picture of a quaint writer, sketching the true 
gentleman, is worthy of the study of a Life Agent : 

" He is above a low thing. He cannot stoop to a mean 
fraud. He invades no secret in the keeping of another. 
He betrays no secrets confided to his own keeping. He 
never struts in borrowed plumage. He never takes selfish 
advantage of one's mistakes. He uses no ignoble weapons in 
controversy. He never stabs in the dark. He is ashamed 
of inuendoes. He is not one thing to a man's face, and 
another behind his back. He may be trusted out of sight 
— near the thinnest partition — anywhere He buys no 
offices, he sells none, he intrigues for none. He would 
rather fail of his rights than win them through dishonor. 
He will eat honest bread. He tramples on no sensitive 
feeling. He insults no man. If he have rebuke for 
another he is straightforward, open, manly. He cannot 
descend to scurrility. In short, whatever he judges honor- 
able he practices toward every man." To such gentlemanly 
bearings as this, large tolerance will be yielded, even under 
the most persistent urgency. 



6\ THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 



10. Me is Devoted to his Calling. 

LIVE MEN are nowhere more needed than in Assur- 
ance Agencies. They are a necessity in a commu- 
nity, and probably always will be, because men will not 
spontaneously go into Assurance. Instruction, persua- 
sion, reminding them of an imperative duty, is essential. 
Here is room for the perpetual play of an agent's best 
powers. Unless he stir up men, a great obligation is passed 
by unnoticed. There is no adequate substitute for activity' 
among assurance agents. The public is practically inca- 
pable of performing its duties without the continual urgency 
of individuals whose interest it is to importune men to do- 
themselves justice. And it is surprising how much a few 
energetic minds — one energetic mind, even — may do to- 
wards informing and exciting the public on this subject. 

Agents often distrust their ability to succeed in the busi- 
ness of Life assurance to such an extent as will warrant 
them in devoting their whole time to it, and so they make 
small gains by other means. But the lesson of experience- 
is, that in order to succeed, all the tact, ability, and energy 
must be concentrated on this one work. 

The essential thing is that the agent be absorbed m his- 
vocation. The largest powers become weak when divided 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 65 

and dissipated among many aims. Inferior powers are 
mighty when concentrated. It is very seldom that a man 
does different things well. Life agents who have rolled up 
for themselves a splendid income, have not done it by car- 
rying on other matters at the same time. They took up 
Life Assurance as a business for life y and they prosecuted 
it with singleness of aim, and an absolute concentration 
of their best faculties. 






11. Wis Interest is in One Com- 
pany. 

UNLESS it is specially understood at the time 
an agent receives his appointment that he has 
liberty to solicit applications for other companies, it is ex- 
pected that he will work exclusively for the company 
appointing him. The reason is plain. No agent can do 
full justice to any one company when he is equally inter- 
ested in advocating the claims of one or two more. He 
should have his preferences in order to make others have 
theirs. And the loose, scattering way of offering one thing 
or another with equal recommendation, is injurious to all 



66 



THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD AGENT. 



parties. A high authority remarks, that tc however it may 
appear to a novice in the business, it is the uniform testi- 
mony of agents who have had large experience in Life As- 
surance, that it is far best to bring all the ability and en- 
thusiasm one can command to the advocacy of the claims of 
a. single company." 




BEGINNING THE BUSINESS. 



Personal 



Canvass at the 
Outset. 




EFORE one can become a successful 
manager of a Life Agency, he must have 
had actual experience in getting poli- 
cies. This is beginning at the bottom. 
Nothing can compensate for the lack of 
3; this lesson at the feet of that best teacher, 
c Experience. 

h A beginner in the business must therefore 
« begin here. He will in this way learn more 
in a few days than he would in weeks of theo- 
rizing. Let him take right hold of canvassing, 
without stopping for anything. Let him try his 



68 BEGINNING THE BUSINESS. 

hand at it, and learn how to use his tools by using them. 
If you are timid, doubtful, strike out! 

ic Tender-handed stroke the nettle, 
And it stings you for your pains ; 

Grasp it like a man of mettle, 
And it soft as silk remains." 

And remember the saying of a French author : tc It is 

the first step that costs." That is the difficult one. Take 

that; take it rightly, and half the trouble in starting business 

is got along with. 

2. A Policy on his Own Life. 

A CIVIL engineer once had finished a complicated 
railroad bridge, when many speculated and doubted 
as to its strength. Mounting a huge engine, he ordered it 
out upon the bridge, and crossed and recrossed at full 
speed. He thus gave proof of his faith in his own structure. 

A Life agent is expected to do likewise. If asked te Are 
you assured in this Company ?" it would be a sorry answer 
if obliged to say " no !" But if he can say fC yes," it will 
act as an inducement to others. And all the better if he 
can say " I have a large policy;" naming a heavy amount. 

It should be added, that your taking a policy on your 
own life is evidence to the Company of sincere earnestness 
in accepting an agency. 



BEGINNING THE BUSINESS. 69 

It is also an excellent habit to carry your policy, (as well 
as a list of large policyholders and the sums they are assured 
for,) in your pocket, and show it on suitable occasions, 
pointing out its provisions and advantages. 

3. Familiarity With Life Assur- 
ance, 

LEISURE hours should now be employed in " read- 
ing one's self up" as to Life Assurance : — its origin, 
history, science, and a thousand other facts and particulars. 
Reports of 'Commissioners' are valuable. A monthly 
Assurance Journal will be found stimulating and rewarding. 
An agent should not be a novice. If he shows familiarity 
with his business it gives other persons confidence in the 
Company he represents. Then, too, one perfectly familiar 
with his business, and the relations which exist between 
the assurer and assured, has the power to enforce the 
advantages of the whole system of Life Assurance to the 
conviction of his friends in a manner at once agreeable and 
pertinent. It requires no great power of persuasion to 
induce people of ordinary prudence to insure their property 
against destruction by jire or water, but it does require 
some power of persuasion, and appropriateness of illustra- 
tion, to induce one to take a life policy. 



JO BEGINNING THE BUSINESS. 

Hence, if one would be master of his business, he must 
be a round-about, full, broad-minded, and ready man. 



4. Posted as to his Company. 

IT is especially necessary that an agent understand ail- 
about the Company he represents. Its strong points - 
should be appreciated, and kept prominent. We know 
agents who say very little, but come right to the special 
advantages offered by their Company, and generally carry 
their case. 

Where objection is made that in this or that particular 
some other company surpasses yours in advantages, the agent 
must be able to give facts. Hence, he should know, and 
be ready to produce whatever considerations will relieve- 
the apparent difficulty or objection. From this it will be 
seen how important it is to be thoroughly posted on the; 
comparative merits of his own and other companies. 



5. His Medical Examiner. 

WHERE the agent has the selection of his medical 
examiner, one of undoubted skill and soundness 
of judgment should first of all be sought. If to this be added 



BEGINNING THE BUSINESS. J I 

agreeable manners, and a pleasant way of approaching and 
handling men, rather than a brusque, cold, repulsive way, 
as is sometimes the case, it will be a valuable qualification ; 
for the bearing of the medical examiner has a great deal 
to do with making it pleasant for applicants. 

The agent should also, if possible, induce the physician 
to take a policy in the office employing him. And where 
this is not possible, he should use every endeavor to interest 
the examiner in the success of the agency r , and secure 
his influence and co-operation. In many cases, the con- 
sulting physician will give the agent a list of his patrons, 
and his card as an introduction. It is a great point gained 
if the doctor be thus enlisted as your helper. 

Get the medical examination made at once after obtain- 
ing each proposal. See that your doctor attends to it with- 
out delay. 



6. Acquaintances Registered and 



J 



SITED. 



SOON as a start is thus obtained, the agent should 
make out a complete list of all his friends and 
acquaintances, and set about the work of seeing and address- 
ing them personally : — perhaps sometimes sending, in 



72 BEGINNING THE BUSINESS. 

advance, a card, circular, or office-book. He should not 
overlook or neglect doubtful cases, for the most unlikely- 
are often the first to assure. He should count no visit lost. 
Where it is not convenient for the party to give you a 
hearing now, the interview had better be deferred. There 
is no use in pressing the matter upon a man's attention 
when his head is full of something else, or when he is in a 
hurry, or in bad humor. There may be persistence with- 
out giving offense, or provoking a rebuff. And however 
coldly received, or even insulted, bear it, and when it comes- 
around right, try it again. By all means, never allow your- 
self to be annoyed; keep your temper on all occasions, and 
at all times tf learn to labor and to wait." Always endeavor 
to leave a good impression. It will be of value to you at 
some future time. 



j. Making New Acquaintances. 

PERSONAL acquaintance with men is your great 
stock in trade. By every suitable means this 
should be extended. If starting business in a city or vil- 
lage where you are not generally acquainted, it will be well 
to turn to the banks, public societies, companies, and asso- 
ciations of various kinds, as found advertised or registered 









BEGINNING THE BUSINESS. J $ 

in the fly-leaves of the Directory, and thus ascertain the 
leading men of the place. Make out a list of those you 
do not know, and seek means and opportunities of favorable 
introductions to them. In time, you may approach almost 
every one of them. It is an advantage, also, to belong to 
literary and other societies. 



8. Getting Names for Refer- 
ence. 

ABOARD of local references can in most cases be 
readily obtained. But it is of great importance to* 
secure the best known and most respectable citizens. You 
can frankly state to such that it would be an advantage to- 
have the use of their names, and that you would like to be 
able to say they are assured in your company. This will 
be a motive that you can use in soliciting them to take a 
policy. Those to whom vou refer should, if possible, be 
policy-holders in the company. In very rare cases (of 
highly distinguished persons) this rule may be departed 
from. 

But, whether holding policies in the company, or not, 
those to whom you refer should be carefully informed of 
the peculiarities of the company, and enlisted in its behalf. 



74 BEGINNING THE BUSINESS. 

To gain this point in respect to a particular individual is 
often worth any amount of effort. 



9. Treatment of other Agents.. 

THERE can be no reason why agents of different 
companies residing in che same town should not, as a. 
rule, be on good terms with each other. At any rate there 
should be no discourtesy between them, and all attempts to 
procure business by depreciation of other agents and com- 
panies will generally be to the detractor's disadvantage. 
Excepting where the unworthiness of a company, or its 
agent, is notorious, insinuations as to its being in " a dan- 
gerous condition," and its officers being et unworthy to be 
trusted," and the like, prove an injury to Life Assurance 
generally, and, to say the least, are of doubtful temporary 
advantage. It is generally sufficient to show the excellen- 
cies of your own company. 






MANAGING THE BUSINESS. 

1. Order and Method in Every- 
thing. 

ET the agent keep in mind that "order 
is heaven's first law." In the office 
there should be " a place for everything 
and everything in its place." A slov- 
enly appearance in the office is indica- 
■^s tive of careless habits generally. 

An agent's books should be systematized 
and well posted, so that he can turn to any 
point in a moment. Every possible fact 
should there be properly recorded ; such as his 
accounts with the company, and with each policy- 
holder, and the residence, &c.,&c, of the latter. 




j6 MANAGING THE BUSINESS. 

And it is very desirable to devote a particular part of 
each day, regularly, to canvassing. Without this one 
may do business ; with it, he must do it. 



2. Relations to the Home Office.. 

EVERY good agent will feel a pleasure in acquiescing; 
with the Company's rules and regulations respecting; 
agencies. He will be prompt and regular in all reports and 
remittances. He will be frank and honorable, eschewing 
all double-dealing, secret negotiations with other compa- 
nies while he is supposed to be acting in good faith for his- 
own, and the like. He will write to the President often,, 
and fully, and confidentially, and show in every way that 
he has the company's interest at heart. Whatever affects- 
the company's standing or success, he considers as affecting 
him. He feels closely identified with it, and therefore 
works for it with a zest. If the least misunderstanding 
arises, he is quick to have it explained and made right. At 
the same time, if there be any points connected with the 
business that he does not clearly comprehend — such, for 
instance, as the various methods of assurance offered, the- 
mode of dividing profits, etc., he does not remain in doubt,, 
but writes at once for information. 



MANAGING THE BUSINESS. 77 



3. Satisfied with Terms. 

SOME agents are given to perpetual uneasiness as to 
terms, and better chances, etc. But it should not be 
forgotten, that what is for the agent's interest is for the 
company' s interest ; and that therefore it is to be presumed 
that a company will deal liberally with its agents. What- 
ever is reasonable will be pretty sure to be granted. 

And an agent may settle this in his mind : that what- 
ever he is worth he ivill in (he end fetch. If he proves 
himself worthy of a better chance, he will be sure to get it. 
The thing for him to do, then, is to show that he can do 
Life business. This is the only thing he need concern 
himself about at the outset. He only asks a foothold — a 
-chance to demonstrate that he has capacity for this W07*k. 
If it is in him it will be sure to come out; and he will soon 
find his level and get as good a position somewhere as he 
deserves. Two lines in Addison's Cato may well be 
remembered : 

" 'Tis not in mortals to command success ; 

But we'll do more, Sempronius — we'll deserve it !" 



jS MANAGING THE BUSINESS. 



4. Prompt Delivery of Policies. 

THE delivery of policies should be made as soon as 
possible after they come into the hands of an agent. 
Delay may bring a change of mind on the part of an appli- 
cant. A large proportion of returned policies would have 
been taken if agents had promptly and personally attended 
to their business. 



5. Renewals and Rejections. 

WHEN a payment is to be made upon a policy, it 
affords an opportunity for the agent to congratulate 
the assured upon his good investment • to inquire if he does 
not wish to increase the amount, and if he cannot name 
some of his friends who might desire to take out policies. 

Where a party is rejected from want of sufficiently good 
health, it is well to ease over the disappointment as far as 
possible ; to advise that he see the medical examiner some 
other time ; and to express the hope that he will yet be able 
to forward a good application. 



MANAGING THE BUSINESS. 79 

6. Helping the Hesitating. 

YOU will come in contact with many men who never 
can decide to assure. They are convinced, and all 
but ready to act. But unless helped, they will never "cross 
the Rubicon." In such a case, get out your forms of pro- 
posal, ask for pen and ink, (or, better still, carry a portable 
ink-stand with you,) and commence filling up the form by 
asking the full name, etc., etc. An experienced agent remarks 
that you will find that nineteen men out of twenty will 
allow you to decide for them that which they would delay 
for months, or even years, if left to decide it for themselves. 
At the same time, with some men it will not do thus to 
assume that they are ready. You must wait their motion. 



7. Filling out Applications. 

READ carefully the directions printed on the margins 
of the application, or elsewhere, as to particulars, 
andwrite out the applications with extreme care, as this 
application is the basis of a contract upon which possibly 
widows and orphans may depend for their all. You have 
no right to peril it by haste or carelessness; or to subject 
the Company and vourself to delays and annoyances from 
the same cause. 



80 MANAGING THE BUSINESS. 

In filling out the application, write replies to every ques- 
tion distinctly. Insert the full Christian name, both of the 
applicant and of the person whose life is to be assured. 

The signatures must always be the full Christian 
names. All incomplete and incorrect applications will be 
returned to you 



8. Resign if Doing "Nothing. 

COMPLAINTS are often made by companies, that 
agents who do little or nothing do not throw up 
their commissions. It is but fair that an appointee either 
discharge the duties of his office, or vacate it in favor of 
another. Otherwise, important ground will be unoccupied, 
and the company will suffer harm from the impression which 
men get that it is doing no business. 

A dead agency is worse than none. When a live man 
subsequently takes hold of it, he finds its antecedents a 
serious obstacle. He had a thousand times rather begin 
anew. 

The moment, then, that the agent becomes satisfied that 
he cannot successfully fill the place, he should signify it 
to the Company. 






ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. 



Widening One's -F 



IELD. 



PON hearing a minister complain that 
his "field was too narrow," a brother 
replied, " Then why don't you enlarge 
it?" Better advice could not have 
been had. The same counsel might 
with profit be given to many a man 
occupying a Life agency which he deems 
contracted." On that same field some 
man might be reaping a splendid har- 

a mistake (we speak as a general rule) 

that nothing can be done in a given 

place because there are " too manv companies 
4* 




82 ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. 

operating there," or rt the people are pretty much all as- 
sured," or there is "too little money in circulation;" or 
something like it. In one sense, the more companies the 
better. The mind of the community will likely be stirred 
up to the matter of assurance, which is an important con- 
sideration. 

The more people know of this subject the more they will 
like it. Life Assurance will one day be as common as fire 
insurance; and you may just as well think of exhausting or 
overdoing the one as the other. We had rather go into a. 
community where there are a dozen companies, than where- 
an agent had never been, and Life Assurance was wholly a. 
new thing. In fine, no matter what the character of the. 
field is, well directed effort will produce satisfactory results.. 
It is not so much the field as the man. 



2. Striking for^ Large Policies. 

MANY agents err in not aiming high enough when 
soliciting policies. It is usually well to name a large 
sum, even if it be rejected. It will help to expand one's- 
ideas, and secure him for a respectable amount. 

And again, it is a great mistake to pass by the rich, and 
be always working at men with small means. " Nothing; 



ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. 8 3 

venture, nothing have." Try that man of princely fortune. 
Don't be afraid ! If you secure him, it will make up for 
many failures. Remember that one policy of ten thousand 
dollars is worth ten policies of a thousand dollars. 

Besides this, it gives standing to your company to iden- 
tify with it those who are in affluent circumstances. 



3. Depending on » Machinery." 

IT is a trite remark of some one, that " the best way 
to do a thing is to do it !" While some men are getting 
ready to work, and ee operating " their machinery, others 
will step in and accomplish the same thing without any- 
body's knowing it. An English writer says: "there are 
two kinds of agents. Some of them mean well, yet they 
think they must have a very large amount of stationery, and 
plates on their doors, and boards on houses, and large bills 
to stick about the town, and they are constantly asking for 
something of this kind. On the other hand, there is 
another class of agents who do little of this sort of thing. 
They remind us very much of the owners of two barges 
which got aground near London Bridge. One of them got 
a large number of horses, and brought all their strength to 
bear upon one of the barges, and tore it to pieces ; the 



84 ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. 

other watched for the tide, and when it rose seized the 
opportunity, and took it safely, with sails and helm, into- 
harbor. Now, what we want agents to do is to seize oppor- 
tunities, seek for them, and when they find them, not to 
make a great noise, but do the work right up." While one 
agent may be puffing his oifice in every newspaper in his 
neighborhood from year to year, the working agent is- 
steadily and noiselessly accumulating a large business. 

4. Editorial Notices. 

AND yet we would by no means despise helps and 
auxiliaries in getting business. One of these is local 
(and if possible editoral) notices in the papers. It is very 
rare that this cannot be brought about; if not directly, then- 
through the influence of other parties. One good editorial 
notice is worth a year's advertisement in the business col- 
umns. By all means induce the editor to take a policy, if 
the thing is possible, so that he can say " We are assured 
in this Company." 

5. Use of Office-Books, etc. 

JUDICIOUS distributions of these is desirable. 
If the Company is wholly unknown in the com- 
munity, show-cards, circulars, office-books, annual state- 



ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. 85* 

ments, &c., may be freely given away. In many cases,, 
however, in getting an application, no reading matter will 
be serviceable. We know agents who, as a rule, just take- 
the tables of the Company in their hands and go out and- 
get business — very rarely using any other printed matter.. 
But where one will "think about it," it is wise to give him 
something to read, especially if it explains and enforces the 
assurance of life. So far as documents of any kind are really 
effective, they are a cheap investment. And they should- 
be put into the hands of those already assured, as well as- 
the unassured. This will increase their confidence, and in- 
many cases they will show them to their friends. 



6. Jnfluenge of the Minister 

LIFE agents should cultivate the acquaintance of t he- 
clergy, and by every suitable means endeavor to- 
secure their influence. In most cases a minister will give a. 
note of introduction, or a general letter commendatory of 
the agent and his Company. Often, too, a pastor will fur- 
nish a list of the members of his parish most likely to assure.. 
It is of great importance to effect an assurance upon the 
minister's life. Where he is unable, or disinclined, some 
one of his parishioners may be induced to take up the mat- 



ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. 



ter and raise the premium, and make a present to the pastor 
of a policy. Suggest this to some one of the members. 



7. Sunday- School Teachers. 

BECOMING associated with the Sunday-school will 
not only extend one's usefulness in general, but en- 
hance his success as an agent. It gives him a standing in 
the community, introduces him to young men of enterprise 
and growing influence, and identifies him with the congre- 
gation and its leader. 



8. Profiting by Deaths of Assured-, 

WHERE a life falls in the community with an 
assurance upon it, especially if it is of great advant- 
age to the surviving members of the family, particulars 
may be profitably obtained, and the circumstances com- 
mented upon. Perhaps the relatives and friends may be 
induced to assure. 



ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. %J 

9. Same of the Unassured. 

^ 7ERY few communities do not furnish examples- 
▼ where a life policy upon the deceased parent would 
have been a God-send to the afflicted household. It is not 
only proper to refer to such cases, but an agent is derelict 
in duty if he does not interpret and apply such providences- 
as a warning against the neglect of Life Assurance. Sudden- 
deaths give especial point to such appeals. 



10. New Attention to Canvass- 
ing. 

THE memorandum book may now be profitably re- 
filled with names of friends, and names of those 
whose acquaintance may be cultivated. It is ever to be- 
borne in mind, that personal canvass is the one sure clue 
to a growing success. All other means put together will 
not amount to so much as the single matter of intelligent 
activity. Indeed, unless backed by activity they are of no- 
avail. That which pays, and pays' with compound interest, 
is the direct grapple of the agent's mind upon the indi- 
vidual minds of the community. 



ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. 



Write this down as an axiom : ''Assurance will not- 
come INTO MY OFFICE ; I MUST GO OUT AND INVITE IT IN ' y 
I MUST, I WILL, SOLICIT, SOLICIT, SOLICIT ! " 



11. The Motive of Patronage. 

A SHREWD agent will make every business relation! 
tell upon his assurance business. The merchant, the 
mechanic, the banker, the physician, the grocer, the tailor,, 
the printer, may reasonably be solicited to take a policy on 
the consideration of your patronage. If approached in a 
delicate way, no man will think the less of you for suggest- 
ing this. It is a fair business transaction. 



12, Never without Blank Ai 



lPFLI — 

cations. 



P I AHE hunter does not go into the woods and fields. 
-*- without ammunition. Neither should the Life agent, 
cross the threshold of his office without being in a condi- 
tion to " produce the documents," in case they are wanteds 
The neglect of this simple precaution has lost many am 



ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. 89 

agent more than one application. While going for the gun 
the game fled ! Be always ready to say, "Well, let us Jjx 
it right up now ! There's no time like the present ! " 



13. Recommending New Agents. 

IT is expected of an agent to keep an eye out for stir- 
ring business-men, adapted to a Life agency, who might 
like to change their occupation. These he will recommend 
"to the Home Office for appointment, in case they are wanted 
•either in his own or some other field. If he meets with 
agents of other companies who desire to dissolve their pres- 
ent connection, it is proper to mention it ; but it is not honor- 
able to try to induce them to change companies. 



14. Operating through u Bosses." 
etc. 

IN large business or manufacturing establishments, it is 
important to get the good-will of the principal head 
(and assure him if possible), and so obtain favorable access 
to those in his employ. Very often, also, the superintend- 
ent or foreman of a concern is a more useful friend than 



<?0 ENLARGING THE BUSINESS. 

•even the principal. Or one of the clerks or common work- 
:men may, by proper influences, become of very great ad- 
vantage in introducing the agent to his associates in the 
:shop or the warehouse. 



15. Soliciting the iJntimate 



f 



RIEND, 



THIS is a most favorable way of introducing the sub- 
ject of assurance ; and the fact that a particular 
^acquaintance has obtained a life policy, will often be a suffi- 
cient inducement for him at least to look into the subject of 
assurance. At the same time, he will naturally think well 
•of the company to which his friend has given the prefer- 
ence. When practicable, get those about to be assured to 
-go with you to their friends, introducing you, and com- 
mending to them Life Assurance, and the company you 
represent. This has great weight. 

16. Convincing the Wives. 

OFTENTIMES women are less favorable to Life As- 
surance than men. Many a wife absolutely opposes 
the husband's getting a policy. And others are indifferent 



ENLARGING THF BUSINESS. 9 I 

to it, and, at least, do not press the matter till it is accom- 
plished. It will be well to remind such wives that multi- 
tudes of their number are suffering to-day from this indif- 
ference, or apposition, or, perhaps, foolish superstition / 
that multitudes will be sorry for it but once, and that is, 
always. At the same time, urge the tender motive of 
love to their children* 



17. Looking after the Newly- 



yviA 



RRIED. 



WE lately heard a sensible newly-married husband 
say, that from the time of his marriage until he 
placed an endowment life-policy of $5,000 in his desk, he 
had not drawn a free breath. He felt how totally desti- 
tute his wife would be, in case of his death ; and he saw 
no way of meeting his obligation to provide for her support 
(which he had solemnly pledged himself to do), except by 
means of Life Assurance. When this was effected, he felt 
■easy. Using such an example, an agent, calling on the new- 
ly-married, may also suggest how admirable a present to a 
"bride a handsome life-policy would be. It will be well to 
precede the call by sending documents, showing the impera- 



92 ENLARGING TH2 BUSINESS. 

tive duty of every married man to assure. Make the ac- 
quaintance of those about to marry, before the consumma- 
tion of the event ; this will render your chance a better one. 



18. /VLaking Each Assured a 

tELPER^ 



jil 



IF he be wise in enlarging his business, an agent will be 
particular to enlist in his interest, so far as he can, 
erery one who takes a policy. In some cases, a slight com- 
pensation may ensure effort in this direction. But in other 
cases the offer of this would have a contrary effect. Here 
is room for wisdom and good sense. But it is highly de- 
sirable that an agent have numerous influences around him 
silently operating to his advantage. 

19. Applying to Those Already 
Assured. 

WITH some agents it is enough to find that one is al- 
ready assured. How much better to congratulate 
him, and ask, " Would you not like to increase the 
amount?" and if for life, propose an endowment policy. 






ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSUR- 
ANCE. 

■& RECISELY the motive to be urged in 
a given case, cannot, of course, with 
certainty., be specified. Each agent 
must choose and use his own special 
argument. We know agents who very 
seldom use more than one, e. g., that 

of an investment. Others make the endow- 



ment feature a specialty. A wise agent will 
soon see which motive is most effective, and 
in the main use that. Business arguments will, 
as a rule, effect far more than sentimental argu- 
ments. The argument that tells may, in many indU 
vidual instances, be a very weak one in itself, but if it an- 




94 ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. 

swers the purpose, it is everything. The illustration use J 
may be homely, but if it effects its object it is superior to» 
the most elegant metaphor. Confine yourself to a few 
strong points, and always present them in words so clear- 
that any one can understand them. 

We enumerate a variety cf considerations, all of which. 
are fair and legitimate motives in urging to action. 

1. Scripture and Duty, 

SCRIPTURE declares, " If any man provide not for his- 
own, especially those of his own house, he hath denied 
the faith and is worse than an infidel." And this provision, 
obviously should be made to extend (as it may by Life As- 
surance), beyond the possible fall of the parent's own life. 
It is not enough to feed his household daily while living.. 
So far as he can do it, he is bound to see that a table is; 
spread for them when he may no more sit beside it. Juxl 
then may they moi?t need this provision. 

2. Immediate Provision. 

PROVISION for one's dependents should, obviously,, 
be immediate. The old-fashioned slow way of 
"laying up something for a rainy day," has proved itself 



ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. 



95 



(alas, too often), wholly defective. Death does not wait 
for these slow accumulations. Not one in ten thousand, 
in the old way, lays by a competence for his family. 



5. Tt is Found ji 



ERE. 



LIFE assurance £s an immediate provision. It secures 
a fortune instantly. The moment a policy is made 
out and executed, that moment the family is secure against 
the worst of ills. You may die the next hour, but a fund 
beyond all question will come to their relief. 



4. The Only Method Known. 

Assurance of life is the only immediate provision. In 
this respect it stands alone. Prof. E. Wright, of 
Massachusetts, truly remarks that "Life Assurance pos- 
sesses exclusively the power of creating at once an ade- 
quate provision against the destitution of dependents in case 
of death." Therefore, no other mode of accumulation is 
equal to this. 



<)& ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. 

5. Uncertainty of Life, 

THE risk from the uncertainty of life may be urgecL 
Refer to examples, and to the statistics of 
sudden deaths. Urge that one knows this — must admit it ; 
and should act on it. Put the case thus : ff The chance of 
your dying within the year is two per cent., while the chance 
that your dwelling will burn within the year is less than a 
quarter of one per cent. There arc, therefore, eight chances 

THAT YOU WILL DIE WITHIN A WEEK tO ONE THAT YOUR HOUSE 

will burn within the same time ; yet you will hasten on the 
wings of the wind to insure the latter, and fold your arms 
with perfect indifference to the former \" 



6. Possibility of Sickness, 

MENTION the possibility of sickness, making it im- 
possible to get a policy. Specify cases. Urge im- 
mediate action lest it be lamented when it is too late. 
"When the cold shiver runs through the frame, and the 
fevered tongue, and the short cough appear, it is too late 
to rush to the assurance office and offer yourself for exam- 
ination ! " 



ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. gj 

7. Family Affection, 

AFFECTION to one's family is a strong motive. Find 1 
out particulars as to the wife, or children, and appeal 
to the wish to please them and do them good. You may often- 
appeal en the ground of love for a dear child. The father's- 
heart is tender, though the man be made of stone. The ap- 
peal may run thus : 

" Would you not at this moment make sure a patrimony 
to your wife, or child, if you could ? The instrument is 
within your grasp ! It is a Life-Policy ! " 



8. A Social Obligation. 

IT is a political and social duty to assure. Refer to its", 
influence upon social life ; the solidity it imparts 
to all institutions ; and the protection it affords to in- 
dustry and labor. Besides this, no person has a right to ex- 
pose his family to the necessity of public support. It is a 
wrong to the public. By this means, too, one can be in. 
a condition to have his debts paid, which he is solemnly 

bound to do. 
5 



98 ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. 

9. Tts Beneficence. 

HERE is a way to do good. Allude to the relief it 
pours so abundantly upon the bereaved and suffering, 
and to the countless benefits it scatters along the pathway of 
human life. Show that by this means pauperism and its fre- 
quent consequence, crime, are greatly lessened ; and that 
genteel pauperism (the most cruel form in which the evil 
appears), can be entirely removed. 



10. A Means of Self-Protec- 
tion. 

LIFE Assurance has tv/o features : — beneficence and 
self-protection'. As to the latter, it is found in an 
endowment policy : by which one secures a certain sum to 
be paid to himself at a given age, if he live to that age, or 
if he die earlier, to be paid when he dies, to his heirs. In 
this way provision is made for a time when one's energies 
fail, and he may need money rather than be called upon to 
pay it out, as on a life-policy. Said an old merchant 
who failed in 1861 : " Had I taken an endowment policy 



ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. 99* 

thirty years ago I should not have felt the premiums from 
year to year, and I should have saved something to support 
me in my old age, lohich I could do in no other way." 

Urge that hundreds of our best business men are now 
practically showing their appreciation of this form of life as- 
surance. 



11. Variety of Uses. 

THE uses and advantages of a life-policy may be pre- 
sented as a motive. The case may be put thus : 
" How convenient for an honest young man, for instance,, 
to turn over a life-policy as security for money which he 
loans, and which he is sure to pay back if he lives. Cred- 
itors can assure the lives of their debtors, as a security for 
their claims. A man with incumbrances upon his property 
may assure to the amount of them, to secure their ready 
payment at the expiration of his term policy, or at his de- 
cease. A young man may raise money to complete his ed- 
ucation, or to buy a stock of goods, or tools, or a farm, by 
assuring his life and assigning the policy as contingent secu- 
rity :" and the like. 



100 ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. 

12. A Good Investment. 

X 7~ERY few investments are as profitable as this. Show 
" that many wealthy men are going into Life Assurance 
merely because it is a good operation They say, " It is the 
best investment we can make : for in fact it combines- 
the advantages of a Life Assurance, a Savings' Bank, and a 
safe Investment." Some of them are carrying policies for 
$25,000, $50,000, $100,000; and one man is known, 
to be assured to the amount of $250,000. These 
are among our shrewdest business-men. Show, also, how 
many a valuable business has been sacrificed by the inability 
of a widow to wait until a fair price could be obtained,, 
owing to ready money being required. If a merchant, show 
how valuable a policy becomes at a time of pressure as col- 
lateral security. And how, in a long lifetime, it becomes- 
an investment paying a reasonable percentage for capital. 
And, also, how he can provide for his old age and for 
his family at the same time, by taking an endowment poli- 
cy. If he is a member of a firm, point out the value of a 
provision paid from the business funds on the first of two 
or three lives, thus securing a safe portion for the widow 
of the first deceased partner without crippling the con- 
cern for those who shall be the survivors. 



ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. 101 

13. Increases Credit. 

IT increases one's credit and adds to his business reputa- 
tion. Reputation is money; and it is a mark of fore- 
sight, large-mindedness, and economy to assure. A mer- 
chant once advertised for a clerk. Out of two hundred ap- 
plicants for the place, he was influenced in favor of a par- 
ticular one by the young man's statement that he had kept 
2. life-policy in force for five years. 



14. Personal Advantage. 

SHOW that it develops the amiable and generous traits 
of character ; accustoms a man to think for others ; 
induces habits of industry, economy, and accumulation ; 
and, by relieving the mind from anxiety and over-exertion, 
promotes health and longevity. And then, what a comfort 
in " the last of earth." How soothing and sustaining the 
reflection that an ample life-policy will insure the bereaved 
familv against want Well has a high authority remarked, 
that, if we gauge the suffering of one manly heart, for that 
single hour when the films of death are curtaining his loved 
ones out of sight unprovided for, and remember how many 



102 ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. 

rsuch agonies Life Assurance' has prevented, putting happy 
and hopeful farewells in their stead, after prolonging life, 
perhaps, by lightening care, we shall be ready to justify the 
companies in any necessary expense. 

15. Joy to the Jiousehold, 

EXPLAIN how the whole family feels the sweet influence 
of Life Assurance. The daughter will not have to be 
kept from school to sew for a living. The son can get an 
education, or be set up in business. And even the group of 
little ones are more blithesome because papa has had re- 
course to the philosopher's stone that creates a capital in an 
instant. The wife rejoices in the calm reflection that God 
has opened to her and the children an effectual door of re- 
lief in case their natural protector and support is snatched 
away. And the husband feels that a load is off his mind. 
He is a new man. He has done his duty and has a right to 
trust God and be at peace. 

16. A Dictate of Prtjdence. 

SIMPLE prudence demands it. Doubtless one reason 
why mortality is regulated by a law, is, that we might 
provide against some of the worst calamities attending it. 



ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. IO3 

It is simply wicked to disregard such provisions ; just as if 
sewerage, disinfective agencies, vaccination, lightning-rods, 
&c, were not used to prevent fevers, cholera, small-pox 
and destruction by lightning. It were neglecting a providen- 
tial means of security. So here. And the time is sure to 
come, if it is not here already, when a man will be deemed 
just as imprudent to leave his life unassured as to neglect in- 
suring his property. And just as severe censure will be vis- 
ited in either case. 



17. Final Appeal. 

WHEN you have convinced the judgment, gather up 
all your powers to move the will. Grapple on to 
the man. Throw your soul into his soul, your will into his 
will. Kindly, but firmly, make him answer to his own con- 
science such questions as these : 

et Have I done my duty to my family? Have I done it 
to the full extent of my present ability ? If I were to die 
to-night, would those who are dear to me be safe from the 
pangs of want? Would my children have a comfortable 
home and means of education? Would my wife be inde- 
pendent of the cold charities of the world? Would mv 
estate pay my debts and leave a competency to my familv? 



104 ARGUMENTS IN URGING ASSURANCE. 

If not, must I not obtain a life-policy before I sleep, and so 
substitute the certainty of a snug patrimony for the un- 
certainty of the continuance of my life ? " 

2-ip 33 If you assure one out of ten of those thus urged, 
you will do well, and have no reason to be discouraged ; 
and, as to the remaining nine, you may have started in their 
minds new ideas on the subject, and some of them may 
eventually give you their applications. Therefore do not 
be disheartened by lack of immediate success. 




HOW TO MEET OBJECTIONS. 




NLESS one start an objection, do not 

make reference to it. Never anticipate 

difficulties by bringing them forward 

yourself; but be ready at every point 

fairly to meet them when presented We 

can only hint how this may be done, in 

a number of cases. 

i. Indebtedness. 

WHEN indebtedness is urged as an objec- 
tion, show its fallacy, e. g., thus : ' e If you 
die with debts unpaid, where will your family be ? 
5* 



lo6 HOW TO MEET OBJECTIONS. 

If you assure and die, your creditors may be paid at once* 
Did you ever hear the assignee of a bankrupt blame him 
for spending money for a Life Assurance Policy? JVever."' 



2. Well. Off. 



IF one says he is well off, show that the rich often become 
poor. Mention cases that the man has known. Also 
urge that at his death the family would need cash in hand. 
Thus : " It might take twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four 
months for your executors to settle up your estate. Were 
you to die now, would they have enough ready cash left 
them to live in the style they now live in, and meet the ex- 
tra expenses incident to your decease ? You think not. 
Then procure a generous life-policy, which would be imme- 
diately convertible into money." 

3. Religious Scruples. 

SOMETIMES religious scruples exist. Show that reli- 
gion does not forbid, but enjoins, prudence. Allude 
to the practice otjire insurance. Or, put the case thus : 
et Who is most likely to worry about the fate of his wife 
and children — a man with a few thousands of dollars laid up 
for them, or one who has made no provision for them ?" 



HOW TO MEET OBJECTIONS. \OJ 

Rev. Dr. Cumming, of London, says: "The assurance 
of life is one of the most christian things that I know ; for 
what is it ? It is taking the load that would crush one fam- 
ily, and spreading it over twenty thousand families ; so that 
a mere drop lights upon each, instead of the overwhelming 
torrent failing upon one. It seems to me a beautiful illus- 
tration of bearing one another's burdens. And, therefore, 
let every young man entering upon life, every head of a fam- 
ily, whether high or low, set his house in order so far as to 
assure his life." 



4. Fears as to Safety. 

WHERE doubt exists as to the safety of Assurance, 
show that Life companies have stood secure ; that 
they cannot, if properly managed, fail; and that such com- 
panies thrive even upon the ruins of other financial concerns: 
fx\ by the mishaps of others, money is increased in value, 
and it is in money that these institutions deal. 

Add, also, that in times of convulsions men rush into 
Life Assurance, thereby increasing the business of such in- 
stitutions, and making it profitable. (See, also, page 24.) 



io8 



HOW TO MEET OBJECTIONS. 



5-f 



XPENSIVENESS. 



IF its expensiveness is talked of, show that it is not an ex- 
pense, but an accumulation. It is neither more nor less- 
than an absolutely sure investment of whatever you can, by 
a well-considered economy, spare, in order to procure, upon 
the best terms, a sufficiency to support your family, or 
your own old age when it has grown helpless. But at any 
rate how little does it cost ! Ten cents a day amounts in 
one year to thirty-six dollars and fifty cents. This sum 
would secure a life-policy for a man aged twenty-three in 
the sum of $2,000; and if he should live to a good age the 
amount to be paid yearly, if anything, would be very small/ 
or the amount and value of the policy would be largely in- 
creased. And add, " Will you not use up your income 
anyhow? so that what you put in here is so much gained." 



6. 



Making Money Fast. 



WHEN one urges that he is vigorous and making 
money, insist that from the superfluity of the pres- 
ent he should provide for the possible imbecility and scarcity 
of the future ; as Joseph directed Pharaoh to lay up from 
the seven years of plenty against the seven years of famine. 



HOW TO MEET OBJECTIONS. 1 09 

). Assuring One's Self. 

IF one says, " I can assure myself by taking the risk as 
cheaply as a company can do it for me/' show that his 
may not be an average life as to duration ; that the rate of 
mortality is only certain with respect to a large number of 
persons. 

8. The Savings Bank. 

WHEX the objection is that it is better to deposit 
small moneys in the savings bank, meet it thus : 
Even if you live, it were better to put them into a Life- 
Policv. Suppose a person to deposit $1,000 with a Mutual 
Life Assurance Company on the accumulative principle 
(that is, to purchase a fixed policy payable at death), and 
$1,000 with a good and reponsible Savings Bank. Mark 
the result running through the twenty-five intervening years 
of a person's life, from 25 to 50, as shown in this Table : 

HIS HEIRS WILL RECEIVE FROM 

If he die at 
the age of The Savings Bank, The Assurance Company, 

30 . . . $1,280 .... $3,425 

35 • • ^ 6 39 ■ • • 3* 66 5 

40 . 2,097 .... 3,886 

v 45 . . 2,685 . . . 4,087 

50 • • • 3.437 .... 5-273 



HO HOW TO MEET OBJECTIONS. 

If, then, with equal security to the depositor, Life 
Assurance on the Accumulative principle pays a ranch 
larger sum to the family than would be paid by the ac- 
cumulations of a Savings Bank, ought not this mode of in- 
vestment to be preferred ? 



9. Using Funds in Business. 

DOES the objector assume that he can better use his. 
money in his business ? Put the case thus : ** Sup- 
pose your profits to be twenty-five per cent., or even double 
that : — no matter what your prosperity. Here is a trifling 
periodical payment which covers an enormous risk. It cov- 
ers the risk of your dying in the interim Can your business 
do this, or anything approaching it ? Suppose, to take the 
strongest case, you put $50 in your business, and at the 
year's end it is likely to become $250. Yet, even then you 
had better put your fifty dollars in an Assurance company; 
for, should you die before the year's end, you would there- 
by have secured $2,000 for your family. If you live, so 
much the better ; thank God, and go on again, not for- 
getting to pay another premium in due time, lest during 
another vear you should not be so fortunate." 



HOW TO MEET OBJECTIONS. 1 1 I 

10. No Family Ties. 

A LTHOUGH one has no family, and may not have- 
-*- -^ one, show that money may be needed in advanced 
age, and so explain an endowment or an annuity policy. 
Also, that some relative may be benefited by a policy ; or 
that in this way he might like to will something to a be- 
nevolent or educational institution. 



li. Ability to Continue. 

WHERE one fears he cannot continue payments, and 
so may lose all that is put in, reply, fc Have you 
not had the value of your money in the risk, as in a fire-pol- 
icy?" And better, "Non-forfeiture prevents the possibility 
of losing what is put in:" (and so explain this beautiful ar- 
rangement.) 



12. Some Othef^ Time. 

WHEN one says, " I will think of it," it is well to re- 
mind him that procrastination is not only " the thief 
of time," but the murderer of opportunity : that many a 
family is doomed to want from a similar delay of but a day 



112 HOW TO MEET OBJECTIONS. 

or an hour ; (refer to examples in " American Manual of 
Life Assurance:) that a man was lately found dead with 
a blank application in his pocket, which he intended to 
fill out Cf to-morrow : " that this- is a matter of the 
first importance, and one usually attends to important 
things first : that he would not leave his house, store, barn, 
or shop uninsured a day : and, finally, that to-morrow he 
may not be assurable, from possible indisposition, accident,, 
or death. Therefore, 

fC Shun delays; they breed remorse ; 
Take thy time while time is lent thee. 
Creeping snails have weakest force ; 
Fly their fault, lest thou repent thee. 
Good is best when soonest wrought, 
Lingering labors come to nought." 

Irif 30 For answers to other objections (and these, more 
fully), see American Manual of Life Assurance. 

2^r° If one will not be persuaded to assure, try to find 
where the sticking-point is, and remove the difficulty by 
arguing the case out clearly ; then, urge to immediate ac- 
tion. 






113 



CONVENIENT TABLES. 



INTEREST TABLE, 

Showing the Interest at 7 per cent., for one year, payable 

in advance, on any Sum from One Dollar to 

One Hundred Dollars. 



a rj. 




















gaS 


£ 


g a rt 


£ 




£ 


2a£ 


£ 


2a- 


£ 


1 1 


m 


1 1 


H 


1 'i 


« 


% % 


1 


^ 1 


H 


$1 


$.07 


$21 


h.38 


h 1 


$2.69 


S61 


S4.00 


$8l 


15.31 


2 


•13 


22 


1.44 


4 2 


2.75 


62 


4.06 


82 


5-37 


3 


.20 


23 


1.51 


43 


2.82 


63 


4-*3 


83 


5-44 


4 


.26 


24 


i-57 


44 


2.88 


64 


4.19 


84 


5.5o 


5 


•33 


25 


1.64 


45 


2.95 


<>5 


4.26 


8«5 


5.57 


6 


•39 


26 


1.70 


46 


3.01 


66 


4-3 2 


86 


5.63 


7 


.40 


27 


1.77 


47 


3.08 


67 


4-39 


«7 


5.70 


8 


•52 


2o 


1.83 


48 


3-H 


68 


4-45 


88 


5.76 


9 


•59 


29 


1.9c 


49 


3.21 


69 


4.52 


89 


5.83 


10 


.65 


! 3° 


1,97 


5° 


3.28 


7° 


4-59 


90 


5.90 


1 1 


.72 


i 31 


2.03 


5 1 


2-34 


7 1 


4.65 


9 1 


5.96 


12 


•79 


32 


2.1c 


5 2 


3-4 1 


72 


4.72 


92 


6.03 


13 


.85 


33 


2.16 


53 


347 


73 


4-79 


93 


6.09 


H 


.92 


34 


2.23 


54 


3-54 


74 


4.8 s 


94 


6.16 


IS 


.98 


















16 


1.05 


3^ 


2.36 


56 


3.67 


.76 


4.98 


96 


6.29 


17 


1.1 1 


37 


2.42 


57 


3-73 


77 


5-°4 


97 


fc« 


18 


1.18 


3« 


2.49 


5* 


3.8c 


78 


5.11 


98 


6.42 


19 


1.24 


39 


2 -55 


59 


3.86 


79 


5.17 


99 


6.48 


20 


1-3 1 


40 


2.62 


60 


3-93 


80 


5.24 


100 


6.56 



114 



O * h 

a If 



< £ 



a 


^ w ■>+• m'O >Oir\**m<A**~0 O00 C~- t-»0 K-i r*> i~i f N 




£ 


O C^ ■+ O -* t-- ii WMOO voroN <S H t»-vO O<^00 ■* O l>- 
-*■ H h O00 \0 «o r« M O O00 t>-0 u-,-^-r*-i^t4i-i!-.i-i 


£ 


Our* r« tJ- lA^vO C^OO O O I- H r^^fUlvO t^0O O O H c( 
t^t^t^t^t-^t^O-l^t-^ E-^OO OO0OO0O00OCO0O0OO0 OlOiOi 




a 


\/->\0 t-^OO mvO Oii ii i-i o ON^m Ort *<->00 O r«\0 rt 

mww u-vo o>o r^ r^ i-^ t-^o -o <5 -o «^sO o vo t>- r^ t-~oo 


1 


r* t^ ►« -+O l^OO Ooo t-- t-^OO IH 00 f^OO \0 M MMO + 
-O O WCM^NO -*0 O H moo r4 mO>mNi> -*J- r^ Q H 


mmU-H^VOO-,U-,xi-Tt-Tl-Tj-Tl-Tt-^Tl-Tt-T^Ti-^-xi--<j-Ti-e« 


£ 


vnvO t^OO O O i-i ^ i^-4-t^vO f-OO O O w rt <^ *+• "iO t^ 






Q 


|fr&5B**»~*~ asaa»535?44 


Z 


O ii O ^+-O0 t-^vO ThvO <^0 i-i OOOinOH OvO r« O t-^ »o 
0<5 r^r^oor^O"^ O^O r« O O r^ O I- r-- r^ O -<T Q 
O iCNM 0> t-~vO W^TfTttl-^mmMtl H M m O 


M 


£ 


"p5 w H m Tf vnsO t-^00 O O ii H w>f wvO t~~0O O O w r> 


< 



115 



O O O s o o o 



o o o c 



P4 
o 



© CO © <?$ © 
© © © © 05 



116 
EXPECTATION TABLE. 

The following is the Expectation of Life according to the 
Carlisle Tables of Mortality. 





Expectation 




Expectation 




Expectation 


AGE. 


in years and 


AGE. 


in years and 


AGE. 


in years and 




lOOths. 




lOOths. 




lOUths. 


H 


45-75 


43 


25.71 


72 


8.l6 


15 


45.00 


44 


25.O9 


73 


7.72 


l6 


44.27 


45 


24.46 


74 


7-33 


17 


43-57 


46 


23.82 


75 


7.OI 


18 


42.87 


47 


23.I7 


7 6 


6.69 


19 


42.17 


48 


22.51 


77 


6.40 


20 


41.46 


49 


21.81 


78 


6.12 


21 


40.75 


5° 


21.1 1 


79 


5.80 


22 


40.04 


5 1 


2O.39 


80 


5-5 1 


2 3 


39-3 1 


5 2 


I9.68 


81 


5.21 


24 


38.59 


53 


18.97 


82 


4-93 


25 


37.86 


54 


18.28 


83 


4.65 


26 


37-H 


55 


IMS. 


84 


4-39 


27 


36.41 


56 


16.89 


85 


4.12 


28 


35- 6 9 


57 


l6.21 


86 


3.90 


29 


35.00 


58 


15.55 


87 


3-7^ 


3° 


34-34 


59 


14.92 


88 


3-59 


3i 


33- 68 


60 


H-34 


89 


3-47 


3 2 


33-°3 


61 


13.82 


90 


3.28 


33 


3 2 -3 6 


62 


13-3 1 


9i 


3.26 


34 


31.68 


63 


12.81 


92 


3-37 


35 


3 1.00 


64 


12.30 


93 


3.48 


36 


3°-3 2 


65 


11.79 


94 


3-53 


37 


29.64 


66 


1 1.27 


95 


3-53 


38 


28.96 


67 


10.75 


96 


3-4 6 


39 


28.28 


68 


10.23 


97 


3.28 


40 


27.61 


69 


9.70 


98 


3-°7 


4 1 


26.97 


7° 


9.18 


99 


2.77 


42 


26.34 . 


/i 


8.65 


100 


2.28 



117 



COMPARATIVE TABLE 
MORTALITY, 



OF 



howing the number of deaths in the year following each year of age from 
twenty-five to seventy inclusive, out of one thousand persons living at 
each of such ages, according to the experience of the three several Tables 
of Mortality known as the Carlisle, the Actuaries' or Combined Expe- 
rience, and the English Life. 



Persona 


AGE. 


Deaths in next y'r 


Deaths in next year 


Deaths in next year 


Deaths in next yet* 


Lrving. 


Mutual BeneBt. 


Carlisle. 


Actuaries'. 


English Life. 


IOOO 


25 
26 
27 


4-24 


7.31 


7-77 


9.20 


IOOO 


IO.29 


7.36 


7.88 


9.38 


IOOO 


9.91 


7.76 


3.00 


9.55 


IOOO 


28 


8.4Z 


8.69 


8.I3 


9.74 


IOOO 


29 


8.32 


9.82 


8.27 


9-93 


IOOO 


30 


6.98 


IO.IO 


8.42 


10.13 


IOOO 


31 


8.28 


I0.20 


8.57 


10.34 
10.56 


IOOO 


32 


9.80 


IO.I3 


8.74 


IOOO 


33 


8.18 


IO.05 


8.91 


10.80 


IOOO 


34: 


9.71 


IO.I5 


9.09 


11.05 


IOOO 


35 


7.52 


I0.25 


9.28 


".33 


IOOO 


36 


8.69 


IO.55 


9.48 


11.62 


IOOO 


37 


9-74 


IO.85 


9.68 


11.94 


IOOO 


38 


8.9I 


II. 16 


9.90 


12.29 


IOOO 


39 


I0.2I 


II.87 


10.13 


12.65 


IOOO 


40 


7.58 


I3.05 


10.36 


13.06 


IOOO 


41 


I2.0I 


13.77 


10.61 


13.48 


IOOO 


42 


8.24 


H.37 


10.89 


13.94 


IOOO 


43 


12. 03 


14.58 


n.25 


14.44 


IOOO 


44 


II.J8 


14.79 


11.69 


14.97 


IOOO 


45 


IO. II 


I4.80 


12.21 


15.54 


IOOO 


46 


8.33 


I4.8I 


12.83 


16.15 


IOOO 


47 


I2.63 


14.60 


13.51 


16.80 


IOOO 


48 


I2.6o. 


13.93 


14.25 


17.49 


IOOO 


49 


II. 13 


13.68 


15.06 


18.23 


IOOO 


50 


16.30 


13.41 


15.93 


19.02 


IOOO 


51 


I4.O9 


I4.29 


16.89 


20.42 


IOOO 


52 


II. 25 


I5.20 


17.94 


21.45 


IOOO 


53 


I9.50 


16.14 


19.09 


22.51 


IOOO 


54 


15.2.7 


16.89 


20.31 


23.64 


IOOO 


55 


12.95 


17.92 


21.66 


24.85 


IOOO 


56 


20.69 


I9.OO 


23.12 


26.17 


IOOO 


57 


21.76 


20.89 


24.67 


27.63 


IOOO 


58 


19- 58 


24.20 


26.38 


29.25 


IOOO 


59 


21.13 


28.27 


28.24 


31.05 


IOOO 


60 


26.67 


33.48 


30.33 


33.05 


IOOO 


61 


28.24 


35.78 


32.61 


35.29 


IOOO 


62 


26.03 


37.40 


35.12 


37-77 


TOOO 


63 


17.76 


38.Z5 


37.83 


40.53 


IOOO 


64 


17.59 


39-77 


40.82 


43.60 


IOOO 


65 


16.55 


41.08 


44.08 


46.98 


IOOO 


66 


40.98 


42.50 


47.6i 


50.71 


IOOO 


67 


34.31 


44.38 


5L47 


54.83 


IOOO 


68 


53.89 


46.45 


55.63 


59-33 


IOOO 


69 


23.08 


49.IO 


60.08 


64.25 


TOOO 


70 


26.78 


51.64 


64.93 


69.62 



118 





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REPORTS OF BUSINESS FOR 1866 OF COMPANIES DO- 

(ALPHABETICALLY 



COMPANIES. 



iEtna Life. Ct , 

American Popular Life 
Atlantic Mutual Life.., 
Berkshire Life, Mass. . . 

Brooklyn Life 

Charter Oak Life, Ct... 
Connecticut Gen.Life,Ct 
ConnecticutMut.Life,Ct 
Continental Life, N. 
EconomicalMut.Life,R I 

Equitable Life 

Germania Life 

Globe Mutual Life 

Great Western Life 

Guardian Life 

Hahnemann Life, Ohio, 

Home Life 

John Hancock Mut.Life 

Knickerbocker Life 

Manhattan Life 

Massachusetts Mut.Life. 
Mutual Benefit Life,N.j! 

Mutual Life 

National Life, N. Y... 

National Life, Vt 

New England Mut. Life. 
New Jersey Mut. Life.. 

New York Life 

New York State Life... 

North America Life 

Phcenix Mutual Life, Ct. 

Security Life 

Union Mutual Life, Me. 

United States Life 

Universal Life 

Washington Life 

Wid. & Orph. Benefit.. 
World Mutual Life.... 



Grand Total 

General Average 



NEW POLICIES 
ISSUED IN 1866. 



INCOME RECEIVED FOR 1866. 



Total Cash 

Number. Am't Insured Premiums. Premiums. 



14,032 

G 444 

E752 

977 

1,207 

5,780 

5i6 

13,766 

D 1,405 

K 224 

7,M5 

5,016 

3,046 

453 

C 2,192 

611 

2,867 

1,556 

5,422 

3,717 

2,953 

7,193 

14,320 

708 

450 

4,703 



7,296 
F 609 

3,79° 
4,096 
3,3^8 
3,528 
1,958 
i,555 
1,838 
1,582 
H in 



$40,648,833 
1,166,700. 
1,899,250 
2,732,375 
3,902,700 

18,219,236 
1,200,500 

46,581,336 

3,907,800 

824,000 

30,072,450 
9,003,100 
7,827,63: 
1,321,20c 
5,553,405 
1,506,500 
6,515,326 
3,748,507 

16,971,375 

13,450,715 
7,480,700 

27,757,037 

50,182,050 

1,845,032 

924,555 

13,298,975 



22,734,308 
1,405,500 

11,956,642 
9,121,309 
7,524,509 
7,873,050 
4,687,230 
4,494,050 
4,410,825 
5,039,931 
423,500 



$3,323,512 

46,474 

74,2 

238,280 

C 227,932 

1,622,573 

45,645 

5,380,894 

223,437 

43,712 

B 1,704,379 

C 693,427 

641 

80,163 
540,963 
55,248 
671.. 
253,488 
892,749 
1,489,947 
731,832 

c 3,404,343 

A 5,040,416 

148,012 

129,446 

1,503,094 



2,736,106 
40,709 

1,243,"'" 
765,472 
569,953 
993,717 
533,228 
227,132 

C 320,584 

C 233,402 

8,857 



,212,142 $36,920,433 $24,284,09: 



$1,661,756 

7,738 
35,196 

180,207 

131,067 

961,518 

45,645 

3,399,344 
66,142 
43,712 
1,704,379 
693,427 
483,944 
45,879 



33,5 

379,217 
176,543 



462,617 

2,336,894 

5,040,416 

54,7H 

125. 



2,304: 

40,709 

1,243,"'" 
460,145 
327,458 
573,051 
533,228 
169,53c 
320,584 
233,402 
8,857 



$198,863 

4,354 
4,422 
34,923 
21,359 

90,270 
10,71 " 
1,125,126 
14,654 
1,536 
102,917 
50,318 
30,901 

9,659 

41,647 

8,144 

74,733 

32,629 

61,233 

220,687 

111,056 

630,011 

994,008 

10,788 

33,648 

225,920 



Total 
Income. 



842, 

4,034,355 

A 6,034,424 

158,801 

163,094 

1,729,014 



3,547! $10,762,490] $997,849' $656,327 



314,636 
5,708 
59,698 
83,135 
33/," 
84,116 

179,83 
25,646 
38,943 
15,555 
56 



15,546 



$13 4,744 



3,188,804 

46,418 

1,303,566 

848,607 

603,651 

1,077,833 

713,060 

252,778' 

359,528; 

C 248,957 

8,9H 



$42,047,616 



A — Accrued interest and Deferred Semi-annual and Quarterly Premiums, amounting to over $1,000,000, 
not included. Had these items been added to receipts, the Premium Income would have been over 
$6,000,000 and the Total Income about $7,225,000, while the Ratios of Expenditures would have 
been correspondingly diminished. 

* — This sum includes $455,606.78 paid during the year for commutation or purchase of future com- 
missions. 

B — Excluding Deferred, Semi-annual, and Quarterly Premiums and Accrued Interest. If these items 
were included, the Income would amount to nearly $2,100,000, and the Ratios would be 

12 13 14 15 

18.17, 19.09, 27.06, 8.89. 

C — Accrued Interest and Deferred Semi-annual and Quarterly Premiums are not included in these items. 

f— Interest on Capital 



131 



ING BUSINESS IN NEW YORK AND MASSACHUSETTS. 

ARRANGED.) 





Cash 
Income. 


Total Assets. 


Amount of 
Claims Paid. 


Dividends 
Paid in 1866. 


Expenses of 
Management 


Ratio of 
expense 
to In- 
come, 
Pre- 
miums, 

and 
Interest 


Ratio of 
expense 
to Pre- 
miums 
only. 


Ratio of 
Claims 

and Ex- 
penses 

to Total 

Income 


Ratio of 
Claims 
Paid to 
Total 
Income 


$1,860,619 
12,093 
39,618 
215,130 

152,427 

1,051,789 

56,363 

4,121,412 

73,299 

45,297 

1,802,884 

743,746 

512,202 

55,539 


$4,401,833 

149,676 

175,532 

677,898 

404,411 

2,580,049 

543,224 

13,316,275 

295,848 

141,443 

3,077,788 

1,240,299 

800,129 

179,633 

737,413 

242,016 

1,231,678 

524,506 

i,579,H5 

3,525,877 

1,509,585 

11,627,984 

18,495,508 

206,707 

571,707 

4,7io,33i 


$342,306 


$91,468 


$584,920 

5,688 

19,435 

46,958 

86,485 

313,792 

I 28,293 

723,230 

48,906 

11,649 

375,957 

164,490 

145,650 

22,284 

83,826 

3i,877 

145,811 

46,702 

L 243,207 

185,269 

112,371 

447,104 

* 1,031,311 

34,738 

18,352 

221,402 


16.60 
11. 19 
24.71 
17.19 
34.69 
17.90 
50.19 
11. 11 
20.54 
25.74 
20.80 
22.11 
21.60 
24.81 
H-39 
50.28 
19-53 
16.32 
25.49 
10. S3 
13.33 
11.08 
17.09 
21-87 
11.25 
12.80 


17.59 
12.23 
26.18 
19.71 
37-94 
18.87 
60.19 
13.44 
21.89 
26.64 
22.05 
23.72 
22.70 
27.79 
15.49 
57.69 
21.70 
18.42 
27.24 
12.44 
15.35 
13.13 
20.46 
23.46 
14.17 
14.72 


26.32 


9.71 








47,95o 
15,000 
199,200 
6,816 
928,688 
1,000 


20,436 

5,248 

215,440 


34-74 
40.70 
29.26 
62.29 
25.38 
20.96 


17-55 

601 

11.36 

12.09 

14.27 
0.42 


531,458 




184,000 
187,925 
94,338 


J 19,292 
f 14,000 

4,025 


30.98 

47-38 
35.67 


10.20 
25.26 
14.02 


98,000 


31.20 


16. 8a 


4i,533 
453,951 
209,173 






133,500 
43,5oo 
163,045 
313,802 
169,554 
868,845 
781,259 
22,133 
46,915 
312,000 


87,035 

2,943 

M 


37.41 
31-53 
42.58 
29.17 
33-44 
32.62 
30.03 
35.81 
40.01 
30. S5 


17.88 
15.20 
17.09 
18.34 
20.11 
21.54 
12.94 
13.93 
2S.15 
18.05 




133,035 
256,635 
419,656 
601,969 




573,674 

2,967,191 

6,034,424 

62,809 

158,779 


7,751 






2,757,084 
18,359 

1,303,566 
543,28c 
36i,i57 
656,754 
713,06c 
195,177 
359,528 
248,957 
8,914 


6,727,816 

155,767 

i,539, OI 9 

1,457,314 

757,398 

2,188,429 

2,005,702 

315,904 

727,120 

530,839 

213,668 


481,813 


282,224 


419,495 
12,568 
201,260 
174,547 
130,495 
192,266 
110,143 
89,721 
112,402 
83,105 
754 


13.15 
27.07 
I5'44 
20.57 
21.62 
17.84 
15-44 
35-49 
31.26 
33.38 
8.47 


15-33 

30.87 
16.18 
22.80 
22.91 
19-35 
20.65 
39-5o 
3506 
35.6o 
8.56 


28.26 


15.10 


105,000 
88,350 
88,632 
130,850 
162,400 
43,000 
65,232 
15,500 


48,140 
22,029 
18,157 
45,899 
34,952 
14,000 
8,650 


23.49 

30.97 
36.30 
29. 9 S 
38.22 
52.50 
49.40 
39-6i 


S.05 
10.41 
14.68 
12.14 
22.27 
17.01 
18.14 












$28,409,788 


$89,565,480 


$6,140,553 


$2,884,442 


$6,706,463 










$767,832 


$2,420,688 


$165,420 


$77,958 


$181,256 


IS-95 


18.16 


30.55 


14.60 



D — Commenced business May 10, 1866. 
E — Organized May, 1S66. 
F — Organized June 4, 1866. 
G — Organized June 14, 1866. 
H — Organized December, 1866. 

I — This item includes every expense incurred since its organization in September, 1S65. 
J — Reduction of Premiums from last Dividend. 
K — Organized June, 1866. Commenced business July 14, 1S66. 
L — $67,876 for brokerage included in this item for which no renewals will be paid. 
M — Returns for Dividend declared in 1856 not yet made. 






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